Centre Expresses Concern about Poor Performance of NITs in NIRF Rankings 2017
- Only four NITs out of 31 across the country managed to secure a spot in the list of top 100 institutes.
- The central government expressed that the poor performance of NITs in NIRF Rankings 2017 is disappointing.
Only four out of 31 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across the country performed well in NIRF Rankings 2017. These four NITs have managed to a secure a spot in the list of top 100 institutes. The central government has expressed its dissatisfaction over the poor performance of NITs. It has directed all the NITs to focus on filling the vacancies, ensure better placements and encourage research and patents. The government wants NITs to aim for a more inclusive campus and work towards improving NIT brand and its perception.
In the NIRF Rankings 2017, only 5-6 NITs have shown a better performance, and the performance of other NITs is not up to the mark. These institutes have performed well in neither rankings nor placements.
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Similar to IITs, NITs also have the status of ‘Institutes of National Importance’. In India, IITs are the top premier technical institutes followed by NITs. NIT Act, 2007, governs these NITs.
Prakash Javadekar, HRD Minister chaired the meeting of NIT Council on May 26, 2017. During the meeting, HRD Minister indicated that there is a heavy competition between the institutes across the country to maintain eminence. It is about time that the Directors of NITs take essential steps to perform better.
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Prakash Javadekar also called for a special meeting with the NITs that did not perform well in the NIRF Rankings 2017. The minister hoped that these NITs will improve and achieve better rankings in 2018.
The following are the four NITs that performed well in NIRF Rankings 2017: -
| Name of the Institute | NIRF Ranking 2017 |
| NIT Tiruchirapalli | 34 |
| NIT Rourkela | 46 |
| NIT Surathkal | 65 |
| NIT Warangal | 82 |
Dr. Mini Thomas, Director of NIT Tiruchirapalli proposed an action plan which has been approved by the NIT Council. As per the action plan, the NITs have to advertise and fill all the vacancies. NITs will have to improve the placements through a systematic internship programme making it mandatory. All the NITs must take steps to improve their ‘perception’.
The action plan also advised all the NITs to emerge as a brand through concerted efforts by the faculty, alumni, central government and institutes.
The key areas that NITs must focus are outreach and inclusivity. NITs will have to take essential steps to increase the percentage of students from other countries/states. NITs must also focus on high-quality research output, promoting interaction with the industry, setting up of centres of excellence in specific fields, increase in Ph.D.s and generation of patents.