Mumbai: The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay has slipped to fourth position in the overall category this year in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) declared by President Ramnath Kovind on Monday. Mumbai University (MU) secured 81st position in the university category, while St Xavier’s College, Fort, secured 96th rank in the college category.
IIT Madras topped the overall category, followed by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and IIT Delhi. Last year, IIT Bombay had secured the third spot. NIRF, launched by the ministry of human resource development, aims at ranking educational institutions and universities across India every year based on various parameters.
Professors at IIT Bombay say the dip in rank is due to the lack of certain parameters like research projects, placements and creation of patents. “Students want to try different fields of research but do not receive legitimate support from the institute or the government.
Students are also keen on creating their own patents and aim to graduate as entrepreneurs but there is a lack of scope for innovative ideas and global exposure,” said a professor. Students revealed that they do not receive consistent support from their mentors for their thesis, especially in terms of financial aid.
Maulika Ganguly, a student of IIT Bombay said, “We have to apply repeatedly for funds for thesis and experimentation. Equipment needed for experiments also costs money and experiments are done on a trial-and-error basis, so we are forced to repeatedly ask for financial aid.”
Suhas Pednekar, vice chancellor of MU, said, “We have improved our parameters like research publications, patent, research funding and passing percentages.” A teacher from St Xavier’s College said, “We have added new courses and improvised examination patterns and will strive to improve our ranking.”
