The chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, has said that although the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is used to evaluate the performance of educational institutions, rankings do not determine funding or other regulatory aspects of a university. The UGC has created NIRF rankings as an eligibility criterion for many of its schemes, but it is not the only pathway for eligibility. Rankings are important for evaluating the quality and performance of an institution, but they do not determine funding or other regulatory aspects. The NIRF ranking is an incentive and advisory for all institutions, and it allows them to identify areas of improvement and create an action plan for the following year.
The latest NIRF data released by the Education Ministry showed that a few institutions have slipped in the rankings just within a year. The UGC chairman commented that the ranking is not a destination but an essential signpost in the trajectory of the institutional journey. Institutions will conduct an internal analysis to identify areas of improvement, which will help them create an action plan for the following year. The NIRF rankings are a sustained effort and not merely a one-time endeavor.
Since the launch of NIRF in 2016, the participation of institutions across the country has increased over the years. But to date, only a small number of colleges out of more than 40,000 colleges in India take part in the NIRF process. The NIRF rankings are a great platform for measuring various institutional quality aspects and that is why UGC has set it as an eligibility criterion for various schemes. UGC recognises and encourages greater participation from colleges and universities across the country.
