Jamia betters NIRF ranking, JNU holds on to second spot

Among the universities in the capital, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) continues to dominate, holding on to rank 2 for the sixth year in a row. Delhi University (DU), which was at rank 12 last year, has slipped one spot to rank 13 this year.

Both JNU and Jamia were rocked by protests in 2019 and early 2020 before the pandemic struck. While JNU saw a prolonged agitation against hostel fee hike, Jamia had seen anti-CAA protests. Jamia first entered the top 10 rankings in 2020.

“VC Prof. Santishree D. Pandit extends the heartiest congratulations to the entire JNU community for remarkable achievement. VC is thankful to students, faculty, teaching & non-teaching staff in helping JNU represent excellence with equity, inclusion with innovation & integrity,” JNU’s official Twitter handle tweeted Friday.

Former JNU VC and current UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar also tweeted: “I congratulate JNU for securing 2nd position in University category and 10th position overall in India. I feel proud to have been associated with JNU from Jan 2016 to Feb 2022. Best wishes to students, staff and faculty members of JNU.”

Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar attributed the rise in ranking to several factors. “The university has been making consistent efforts to improve the quality of teaching, learning and research. In NIRF rankings we have progressed from 83rd rank in 2016 to 6th rank in 2021 and now figures among the three top universities of the nation. This remarkable achievement was possible because of the relevant and focused research of highest quality and teaching by the dedicated and devoted faculty members of the university,” she said.

Akhtar also attributed the achievement to “improved perception about the university with regard to teaching, placements, research, etc” and said Jamia would keep working to improve its rank.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi continued to maintain rank 2 in the Engineering category, and rank 4 overall like last year. In the 2021 rankings, IIT Bombay overtook IIT-Delhi in the overall rankings and pushed it out of the list of the top 3 institutions in the country.

Delhi University (DU), which was at rank 19 overall last year, has now dropped to rank 23 overall.

DU Registrar Vikas Gupta said that while he was aware that the rank had slipped one place in the university ranking, he was not aware of the details and would therefore not be able to comment.

The NIRF ranking is given on the basis of five parameters – teaching, learning and resources (TLR), research and professional practices (RP), graduation outcomes (GO), outreach and inclusivity (OI), and peer perception.