Mirrow Webdesk
The NIRF ranking for institutions of Higher Education of the country for the year 2021 has been published very recently. Apart from the overall ranking, there heve been rankings in eight different categories which are Engineering Institutions, Medical Institutions, Universities, Research Institutions, General Colleges, Law Colleges, Architecture Colleges, Dental Colleges and Pharmacy Colleges. In overall category, this year IIT Madras topped in the list of 100 best followed by IISc Bengaluru. 3rd to 8th positions are snatched by IITs. JNU stood 9th, BHU 10th followed by Calcutta University at 11th position.
Interestingly, in this recently published NIRF ranking, Miranda House of University of Delhi has retained the top position among the colleges of the country for the consecutive five years. In this ‘Only College category’ R. K. Mission Vidyamandira, Howrah has secured fifth position this year. But, no college of North Easter States has managed to find place among the top 200 colleges of the country. However, many higher education institutions of North-East excelled and acquired prominent positions in the rankings in different categories.
It’s a boost for IIT Guwahati as, in the Engineering Institutions category, it has been maintaining 7th rank for the last five years. In overall ranking, this year, IIT-Guwahati is ranked at 8th and NIT Silchar at 93rd position. NIT Silchar remained within top 50 Engineering Colleges of the country in the latest NIRF ranking published by Ministry of Education, Government of India. In fact, from last year (2020) it has managed to climb within the band of top 100 institutions of India (Overall). There are two more institutions of Assam included within top 100 institutions of the country (overall) – Gauhati University (67th rank) and Tezpur University (73rd rank). Although, could not manage to be included with top 100 (overall) institutions of the country, Assam University is being included among top 100 universities this year, with 93rd rank.
| NIRF Ranking (Overall) | ||||
| Year | IIT-Guwahati | Gauhati University | Tezpur University | NIT Silchar |
| 2021 | 8 | 67 | 73 | 93 |
| 2020 | 7 | 72 | 65 | 94 |
| 2019 | 9 | 65 | 48 | — |
| 2018 | 12 | 61 | 46 | — |
| 2017 | 8 | 43 | 48 | — |
| N.B: There was no overall ranking in 2016 |
Among all the institutions of higher education in North Eastern region, IIT Guwahati has emerged as the most reliable and sought after centre for excellence in the last few years, maintaining its position almost steadily. NIT Silchar is also showing promising grading rising steadily in the ranking.
| Year | IIT-G (Among Engineering Institutions only) | NIT-S (Among Engineering Institutions only) | GU (Among Universities only) | TezU (Among Universities only) | NEHU (Among Universities only) | AUS (Among Universities only) |
| 2021 | 7 | 48 | 45 | 46 | 59 | 93 |
| 2020 | 7 | 46 | 47 | 39 | 49 | — |
| 2019 | 7 | 51 | 42 | 29 | 39 | 97 |
| 2018 | 7 | 57 | 39 | 29 | 61 | 87 |
| 2017 | 7 | 53 | 27 | 30 | 48 | 92 |
| 2016 | 11 | 65 | 22 | 5 | 15 | 77 |
Among the category of only universities, Gauhati University and Tezpur University have been maintaining their positions among the top 50 band from 2016. In this category of only universities, Assam University has been in the 51-100 band since 2016 except in the last year when it slipped out of top 100 band. As such, compared to last year, it has improved its performance regaining its position within top 100 university band this year. However, compared to other two universities of the State (GU and TezU) it’s position has always been much lower since NIRF ranking was initiated in the year 2016. Such comparatively poor performance of Assam University is observed to be mainly due to its low grading in the category ‘Perception’. This year AUS has got 18.51 points in this category, lowest among all the institutions of Assam which are included in the NIRF ranking in any category whatsoever.
So, what is that ‘Perception’? Here, ‘perception’ stands for ‘peer perception’ which is to be evaluated by academic peers or experts. NIRF guideline says – this evaluation is being done through a survey conducted over a large category of academics to ascertain their preference for graduates of different institutions. Comprehensive list is being prepared taking into account various sectors, regions, etc. This process is carried out through an on-line survey conducted in a time-bound fashion. Low mark of a higher education institute in this category ‘perception’ indicates that the preference for graduates of different institutions to join this institute is low. For Assam University, although low, this mark is improving since last few years.
| Year | Marks in ‘Perception’ of Assam University (in Only University Category) |
| 2021 | 18.51 |
| 2020 | — (did not rank within top 100) |
| 2019 | 4.70 |
| 2018 | 2.40 |
| 2017 | 5.65 |
| 2016 | 64.00 |
However, this year or in the previous few years, Assam University got lowest mark in this ‘Perception’ category among the top universities of the North East. On this, many academicians of Barak Valley opined that to improve NIRF ranking, Assam University should work on this ‘perception’ sector to grow reliable impression in the academia. For that, serious socio-academic innovations with time-bound roadmap are to be devised with a broader and inclusive outlook.
| University | Total Marks in only Univ category (2021) | Marks in ‘Perception’ (2021) |
| AUS | 39.21 | 18.51 |
| GU | 47.35 | 25.34 |
| NEHU | 44.24 | 26.14 |
| TezU | 47.27 | 32.14 |
Assurance of holding regular and effective classes with learner-centeic attitude attracts promising students. Clean, impartial and learner friendly academic administration is a must for good educational institution. Some serious students leave departments of AUS and go to other universities due to poor experience in classroom transactions, changes of examination schedules, delay in publication of results and negligence of a few teachers despite sympathetic and wise efforts of some excellent teachers, it is often reported.