New Delhi, April 3 (IANS) The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is the countrys top ranked higher educational institute while the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad is the top management institute, as per the NIRF rankings released here on Monday.
The rankings released by Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar lists the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the national capital and Kolkata's Jadavpur University (JU) -- which have been in the eye of storm over alleged anti national sloganeering -- among the top universities of the country.
As per the "India Rankings" under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), JNU is the second best university in the country after IISc Banglore while JU has been ranked fifth.
The University of Hyderabad, which hit the headlines in 2016 over the suicide of its PhD student Rohith Vemula, has been ranked seventh in the lists of universities.
Javadekar hailed both JNU and JU for their contribution to research work and said the rankings were aimed at creating a competition for the educational institutes to strive for excellence.
"JNU or Jadavpur University have not been ranked for raising (pro Parliament attack convict) Afzal Guru slogans. They have not been ranked for confining the Vice Chancellor, but for their research work in science, biotechnology and other fields," said Javadekar.
While the JNU was at the eye of massive political storm last year after anti-India slogans were raised at an event marking the anniversary of the hanging of Afzal Guru, similar "anti-national" slogans were also allegedly raised at the JU as well.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute; deemed university Jamia Hamdard in Delhi is best in pharmacy category while Miranda House in the national capital has been ranked the best college in the country.
The rankings were made under five heads -- overall, university, engineering, management and pharmacy.
As many as seven IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) are in the top 10 educational institutes (overall) in the country.
Banaras Hindu university (BHU) is ranked third in the university list and 10th in the overall list.
Over 3,300 institutes participated in the second edition of the India Rankings. Only centrally funded institutes and those having over 1000 students enrolled were eligible to participate.
While the participation of the institutions has been voluntary, Javadekar said the government might make them compulsory in the future.
The minister said higher the rankings, greater will be the government's grants and funds to the institutes.
Launched in 2015, NIRF is a methodology adopted by the HRD Ministry to rank all institutions of higher education in India.
The parameters used for the rankings were under five broad heads -- teaching learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity, and perception - employers, academic and public.
