KU & JU: Decoding NIRF Rankings

The National Institutional Ranking Framework or NIRF of the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) is the country’s most acceptable platform for ranking of higher education and technical institutions in the country. These institutions are based on well-established criteria, which among things, major performance indicators like student strength, teaching-learning ratios, placement of students, faculty strength, extramural funding etc. The exercise is held annually to assess these institutions in order to enable them to fill the gaps, if any, to score better next time.

This year’s NIRF-2024 ranking, in terms of two pivotal institutions in Jammu and Kashmir viz. University of Kashmir (KU) and University of Jammu (JU), indicated a significant drop in the performance indicators in case of KU, and an equally significant increase in case of indicators pertaining to JU.

Compared to the 2023 NIRF rankings, the University of Kashmir slipped at least 12 points (from rank 33 to rank 45) among the universities assessed under NIRF, while the Jammu University went up by at least 13 slots to figure at rank 50 from the previous year’s rank of 63. In the category of overall institutions assessed under NIRF, the KU has again seen a sharp decline from rank 56 in 2023 to rank 69 in 2024, thus raising questions about its performance and progression. Shockingly, KU’s point score in 2023 was 53.08, while the same this year has seen a slip to 52.14.

Even though the University of Kashmir tried to camouflage the dip in its rankings by shifting focus to its figuring at 14^th  among State Public Universities, the fact of the matter is that this category is neither a separate category for ranking under NIRF nor does it have any separate performance indicators.

The NIRF rankings entail rankings under the category of Universities Assessed or Overall Institutions Assessed. Furthermore, the University’s official press release attempted to cite a high number of institutions assessed (11,000) in this year’s NIRF ranking to indicate a sense of huge competition, but again the fact is that this was true in case of all other universities assessed, including the Jammu University which improved its ranking tally to enter the top 50 institutions.

Several academicians this correspondent spoke to said that there was no doubt that the University’s rankings this year saw a significant decline, despite what the officials had to say in their defense. “The University’s point score has fallen in some of the key categories this year, compared to last year. The figures available on the NIRF website speak for themselves,” said one academic, well versed with NIRF parameters. He said the University has fallen in parameters related to its Perception, Faculty Recruitments, and Graduation Outcomes.

“These areas were declared as ‘grey areas’ in 2023 with authorities promising to work on addressing them. But it seems not much progress was made,” said another academic, blaming “non-serious approach of authorities to plug the gaps.”

The angst related to decline in KU’s ranking was visible in a tweet by the varsity’s Chancellor who pointedly congratulated JU VC Prof Umesh Rai and its faculty and non-teaching staff for the feat of entering top 50 institutions, while routinely making a mention of Kashmir University and other universities of the UT.

Since the inception of NIRF in 2016, the University of Kashmir has seen many ups and downs in its rankings. However, what is more concerning is the fact that not much progress is being made on improving performance indicators where the University is lagging behind. For example, many students argue that the University of Kashmir could lay greater emphasis on increasing its perception by inviting foreign students to study in its campuses.

In view of the increasing competition and the fact that perception of institutions carries a lot of weight in today’s academic world, it would be sheer laxity on part of the KU authorities if they don’t seriously work to realise this goal. KU is more than a 50 year old institution and should by now have created world-class infrastructure and facilities for its students. However, besides the main campus, the University’s satellite campuses haven’t been able to bridge this gap.

One JU professor, who spoke to this correspondent, said the University’s quality assurance team worked very hard in the preceding year to focus on grey areas under NIRF and plug the same.

“The Jammu University has focused on patents, vocational education, extension education and perception to be able to break into top-50 mark,” he said, adding that the University of Jammu is sure to figure among top 25 institutions next year with “sustained focus on NIRF parameters and bew NAAC parameters.”

According to insiders, the KU’s faculty-student ratio is not as strong as it ought to be. The figures are allegedly inflated with inclusion of temporary faculty like contractual lecturers to paint a rosy picture. In the last two years, no open recruitment of permanent faculty has taken place, with insiders blaming administrative failure for tossing the recruitment notifications from one quarter to another, leading to readvertisments after readvertisments. Further, the admissions to various PG programmes has taken a massive hit, with steep decline in the number of applicants for the PG programmes, besides a sharp decline in number of admissions.

“The admissions in some programmes have dipped significantly at the main campus, while the situation with satellite campuses is very gloomy,” said a teacher at South Campus, wishing anonymity. He said the dip is significant even in traditional courses which otherwise would see massive inflow of students.

“You can see that PG entrance result 2024 is yet to be announced. The admissions are yet to be done. It is taking University three times the time for admissions than is applicable in other institutions in the country or even UT. This is despite all its bragging about so-called IT interventions,” said the teacher. “If these areas remain unaddressed, there will be a time when nobody would wish to seek admission in KU.”

Many teachers argued that if the KU authorities continue to remain in denial mode about its downfall in academic parameters, it would only lead to further decline in its academic standards. “There are some not-so-old universities like IUST and SMVDU that are doing far better than KU. It is an alarm bell for the institution,” they said.

To conclude, the University of Kashmir requires making serious efforts to plug the gaps identified in the NIRF rankings and score better next year. The University is in need of a strong leadership and equally strong effort by its academics and officials to build a strong perception about the institution. It is no argument that number of institutions considered for the rankings this year was higher.

It would be the case every year, because number of institutions in the country would only grow with time, and all of them would eventually apply for rankings under NIRF. What is required from the University of Kashmir is a strong leadership to steer the boat further towards academic excellence. Camouflaging facts and figures will only do bad to the institution, though it may temporarily try to paint a rosy picture. Strong leaders focus on long-term goals and short-term gains. The University requires working on both with seriousness to fare better. Next year’s ranking and competition with JU will be watched for by one and all.