The century-old University of Mysore (UoM) has been ranked 36th among 774 Universities in the National Survey conducted by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Acting UoM Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dayananda Mane told reporters yesterday that it was a moment of satisfaction as the NIRF declared the 36th rank for the Varsity in the University category from among 774  Universities in India.

UoM is also ranked 57th in the overall category from among 3,300 institutions, he said and added that vacancies in teaching posts came in the way of it getting a higher rank.

TOUGH PARAMETERS

“It is difficult to meet the MHRD’s parameters with just 30% of permanent posts in the University. In some Departments, there is one permanent faculty and the rest are guest faculties. In this scenario, how is it possible to maintain quality,” asked the VC.

He urged the State government to give autonomy to Universities to make appointments to teaching posts, as this was vital to get better rankings.

University of Mysore was the only conventional public University in the State to figure in the NIRF ranking 2017. A total of 2,995 institutions took part in the process.

KSURF SURVEY: The University had not taken part in the last year’s survey due to some technical problems, he said. “Now the target is to secure a place in the top 10 list and later compete with international institutions. When the ratings of the Karnataka State Universities Rating Framework (KSURF) were released last week, we were disappointed as UoM did not figure in the list,” he said.

Prof. Mane said that despite all limitations, UoM is a model University and has been recommended as worthy of emulation by the State government in  all respects.

Prof. Lingaraja Gandhi, Director, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Board (PMEB), who was the nodal officer for providing data for ranking surveys for 2017, said the data had been provided for the State, national and international rankings.

He said ranking of Universities and institutions is a new practice in the higher education system and an extension of the NAAC system.

“It increases competition among institutions and helps in knowing their strengths and weaknesses,” Prof. Gandhi said.

FIVE MAIN PARAMETRES: Out of the five main parameters, the UoM had fared well in Graduation Outcome with a score of 93.17% (the Varsity stands 4th in India) and also had fared well in Outreach and Inclusivity and Teaching and Learning Resources with the scores of 53.51% and 41.59% respectively. The weak points are in the areas of Research and Professional Practice with 20.10% and Perception 3.44%, he said.

The University officials were hoping to bridge the gap in student-teacher ratio that also boosts research outcomes, Prof. Gandhi said, and added that paucity of teaching staff needs to be addressed on priority.

Registrar Prof. R. Rajanna said that the problem of staff crunch would soon be addressed. “The government has permitted recruitment of 205 faculty members including 55 backlog posts. Notification for recruitment process would begin once the VC is appointed, he said.