Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology – Madras is on cloud nine after it was declared the ‘Best Educational Institution’ in the country in the latest edition of National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) 2019, which was released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Monday.
In overall category, IIT-M was ranked No. 1 this year, bettering last year’s position of No. 2. For the fourth consecutive year, the institute was declared as the No. 1 institution in the country in engineering institutions category in the same rankings.
IIT-M also emerged as the ‘Top innovative institution’ in the country in the maiden edition of the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), launched by the Innovation Cell of MHRD in 2018, bagging the No. 1 rank in government institutions category.
Speaking about the remarkable achievements, IIT-M Director, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, said, “We are delighted that our efforts to constantly improve our course programmes, research and industry collaboration, as well the creation of a world-class innovation ecosystem in India’s first-of-its-kind Research Park at IIT Madras, are being recognised. We will continue to strive to excel in all these spheres.”
IIT-M Dean (Academic Research), Prof A K Mishra, received the awards on behalf of the institute from President Ram Nath Kovind at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, Monday.
Over the years, IIT-M has consistently worked and made noteworthy improvements in various sub-parameters of NIRF rankings such as student-faculty ratio and quality of faculty, number of patents, number and quality of research publications, sponsored research & industrial consultancy, students placements and higher education, and so on, a press release said.
Eight of the top 10 engineering institutions in NIRF are IITs. IIT-Madras was followed by Delhi and Mumbai. Anna University, Chennai, and National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, have been ranked at nine and 10 in the category.
DU’s Miranda House has topped the colleges rankings followed by Hindu College and Presidency College in Chennai. Loyola College bagged sixth place.
A total of 3,127 institutions participated in the ranking process under overall rankings, category-specific and domain specific ranking. In all, 4,867 applications for rankings were made by the total applicant institutions under various categories and domains.
The ranking framework instituted in 2016 evaluates institutions on five broad generic groups of parameters, including teaching, learning and resources (TLR), research and professional practice (RP), graduation outcomes (GO), outreach and inclusivity (OI) and perception (PR).
GOVERNOR GREETS COLLEGES
Governor Banwarilal Purohit congratulated Anna University and Presidency College and Loyola College coming under the University of Madras for bagging top honours in the NIRF.
“The achievement of Anna University which has secured the seventh position in the category of universities and ninth position in the category of engineering institutions is, indeed, remarkable and praiseworthy. The third ranking secured by the Presidency College and sixth rank by Loyola College in the category of colleges mark them out to be outstanding and top notch institutions in the sphere of higher education,” the Governor said.
“I congratulate the Vice-Chancellors, principals, the faculty and students of these universities and colleges and convey my best wishes and greetings to the faculty and students of all those educational institutions who have brought glory to the State through their achievements,” he said in a statement.