Delivering his speech after the release of NIRF Rankings 2018 , Union HRD Minister, Mr. Prakash Javadekar clarified that participation in NIRF Rankings is mandatory for the public institutes. If these institutes fail to take part in rankings framework, they will have to face fund cut, he cautioned.
This year, MHRD has announced the rankings in 9 broad categories. Architecture , Law and Medical are the three new categories that have been added to the 2018 edition of NIRF Rankings. The response to NIRF Rankings 2018 is outstanding. Over 4,500 institutes participated in the ranking framework this year. All these institutes have been assessed on five parameters.
Also Read: NIRF Rankings 2018: Top Management Colleges in India
This year, HRD Ministry also announced the names of a few institutes as ‘Special Mention’. These institutes are: -
- Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
- Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore
- Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi
- ICAR – National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal
Javadekar further explained that the major purpose of Indian rankings is to create an opportunity for higher learning institutes to introspect on a regular basis. Even though there are many ranking systems across the globe, these are not suitable for use in India, a country that has one of the most diverse and largest higher education systems in the world. The unique nature of NIRF is to take this diversity into consideration, he added.
Also Read: NIRF Overall Ranking 2018: IISc Tops the List
Major Changes Introduced in NIRF Rankings 2018: -
- ICI (Indian Citation Index) discontinued as a medium of source data for publications and citations.
- Discontinuation of public perception
- Linking of AISHE database with the ranking effort
- Data pertaining to patents applied and earnings from patents was discontinued as one of the parameters.
- The perception from academic and industrial peers continued this year, and it is more broad-based.
- Some parameters and computational methodologies similar across categories and domains.