Patna: The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released by Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday has brought twin shame to Bihar. Only seven educational institutions from the state applied for the ranking, and only one, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Patna, figures among the top 100 in the country.
National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Patna and Central University of South Bihar, which were among the top 100 institutions in the 2016 ranking, are nowhere in that pool this year.
Besides IIT-Patna, the six other higher education institutes that applied for ranking were Bihar Agriculture University, Bhagalpur; National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Patna; Central University of South Bihar, Gaya; Bhagalpur College of Engineering; Gaya College of Engineering and Patna Sahib Technical campus (Hajipur).
Patna University, which last year completed 100 years of inception, did not even bother to apply for ranking despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the university to compete globally and be counted among the world's best institutions.
Even in the lone bright spot, there was a slide. IIT-Patna, which was last year ranked 19th in the engineering category list, has slipped to 24th rank in the category.
However, in the overall ranking, IIT-Patna improved its showing: From last year's 83rd position to 69 now.
"The ranking came on Tuesday," IIT-Patna director Pushpak Bhattacharyya said. "We will go for data analysis on what went wrong."
Central University of South Bihar (CUSB), which was ranked in the top 100 institutions in 2016, has slipped out of the top 100.
"We have lost ranking in the top 100 institutions mainly for lack of infrastructure," CUSB vice-chancellor H.C.S. Rathore said.
"By next academic session, we will move to our permanent campus in Gaya and hope to improve our ranking," the vice-chancellor added.
The ranking of law institutes, introduced from this year, has not brought good news for Chankaya National Law University (CNLU) -it is not among the country's top 10 law schools.
"CNLU has to work hard to come in the top 10 position," a CNLU student said under cover of anonymity. "The institute is rich in infrastructure but suffers on the permanent faculty front."
The biggest cause of concern is for Patna University, which did not even bother to apply for the NIRF ranking.
At the varsity's centenary year celebrations on October 14 last year, the Prime Minister had assured to provide assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to 10 private and an equal number of government institutes for five years, should they demonstrate that they have the potential to become world class.
"The university is presently preparing for Naac accreditation," said a senior Patna University official on the condition of anonymity.
"Once Naac accreditation of all colleges and university is completed, the varsity will apply for NIRF ranking next year."
Anil Kumar, a student of Patna College, was blunt in his assessment. "The university is not interested in such ranking, as it will expose it," he said.
"The university is 100 years old but suffers from teacher crunch. There is lack of infrastructure, like classrooms for running postgraduate courses and, more importantly, research activities."