Experts say ranking exercise is futile unless private universities are included

COIMBATORE: The private agency that carried out the ranking process for Karnataka universities is likely to carry out the process for Tamil Nadu too, say sources who are aware of the development.

When asked, Principal secretary to the

higher education

department, government of Tamil Nadu, Sunil Paliwal said, “We will give it to a private agency through a tender.” The source told TOI, “The private agency is said to have floated this idea to the state government and it was presented to the authorities of the state government. An online platform is ready.”

While the state government’s intent in improving the standard of its universities is positive, experts feel it is a redundant exercise. A senior academician from the state, who requested not to be quoted, said, “The

NIRF

is an elaborate format that covers almost all criteria for ranking. The higher education department could just carve out the details of its state universities and come out with solutions to improve standards.”

The academician suggested that it is imperative for the state government to also include private deemed universities and colleges so that the exercise is competitive. “There are private universities in the state that have better world rankings than state universities. Unless the state universities are not compared with private institutions, it will not be a competitive exercise,” the academician said.

Of the 22 state universities in Tamil Nadu, only two feature in the top 1,000 universities in the world rankings. Anna University, Chennai, and Annamalai University, Chidambaram find a place in the World QS Ranking and Times Higher Education Ranking respectively. On the other hand, in the NIRF, only seven state-government-owned universities find a place in the top 100.

Former vice-chancellor of Anna University, Chennai, M Anandakrishnan says that the new ranking system should look at ethical parameters and international faculty. “Today, every state university has corruption in every activity. So, there should be a parameter to check their transparency. Another criterion is visits by international faculty,” he said.

He said the parameters should be clearly defined and elaborated so that the ranking does not become another exercise in favouritism. “Also, they should clearly have an understanding of teaching parameters. Across the world, universities are struggling to define teaching parameters,” said Anandakrishnan.