Fresh funding for educational institutes could be linked to NIRF rankings

From 2018, fresh funding for educational institutions by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) could be on the basis of their ranking in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Sources said that this will not only ensure higher participation of institutions but will also play a role in improving their physical infrastucture and academic output.

In the India Rankings 2017 based on NIRF, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore topped the overall list of institutes.

"Global rankings take certain parameters which are not relevant in the Indian context. Linking funding to the rankings will promote healthy competition " an official said.

There are several leading educational institutes like Presidency University of Kolkata and St Stephen’s College, Delhi  that have not participated in these rankings. Once grants/funds are linked to NIRF rankings, it will be necessary for them to participate to ensure a healthy flow of funds to the institutions. If they don't, MHRD may also seek the reasons for opting out.

NIRF was approved by the MHRD and launched in September 29, 2015. In the second year of the ranking. In 2017, general degree colleges have also been made part of the ranking.

Apart from the overall ranks, categories like engineering, management, pharmacy, universities and colleges have been classified in various buckets. In 2017, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad bagged the top slot among management institutes while Indian Institute of Technology, Madras secured the top rank among engineering institutes.

Indian educational institutes have been a part of global rankings like QS World University Rankings. However, only a handful of institutes like IISc Bangalore and IIT Delhi (2017) have featured among the top 200 institutes in the world. None of them have been able to break into the top 50 among the world.

Almost 70-80 percent of educational institutions are partly or fully funded by the government and require financial support to manage the physical infrastructure, salary bills as well as to subsidise student education.