Ranchi: IIT(ISM), Dhanbad, has been placed at 27 and BIT-Mesra, Ranchi, at 66 in the overall category under this year's National Institutional Ranking Framework.
Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar formally released the NIRF 2018 report at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi on Tuesday, with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, being adjudged the best in overall rankings.
In the management category, XLRI-Jamshedpur has been placed at 10 nationally, having slipped a rank since last year. IIM-Ranchi too lost its rank of 25 in this category to be placed at 40 while BIT-Mesra, being a debut contender, has ranked 44 nationally.
In engineering category, both IIT(ISM) and BIT-Mesra have climbed up the ladder to rank 13 and 26, respectively, compared to 23 and 31 last year.
In the overall university category, BIT-Mesra has been placed at 43 while in pharmacy category, it has ranked 13.
This year, the NIRF has included medical, dental, architecture and law colleges/institutes in its rankings. When the ranking framework was launched in 2015, it had only four categories - universities, engineering, management and pharmacy. Thereafter, it added overall and college categories.
More than 4,000 institutions applied for the NIRF ranking this year, an increase of 1,000 since 2017.
Ranks are offered on parameters such as teaching, resources, research undertaken, graduation outcome, outreach, inclusiveness and perception.
BIT-Mesra registrar A.P. Krishna said they were yet to see the detailed analysis, but improvement in ranking was a testimony to their good efforts. "We hosted seminars, exchange programmes, in-house teaching sessions, exposure campaigns, et al, across all disciplines. We shall continue to achieve better results through inclusive academic approach," he said.
IIT(ISM) registrar Col (retired) M.K. Singh said better ranking meant they were gaining momentum. "We want to emerge as a centre of excellence in all fields. The groundwork has begun. Committed members of staff and dedicated students are guiding the IIT(ISM) trajectory," he added.
An official at IIM-Ranchi attributed the cradle's humble performance to the lack of a permanent campus. "Although land has been allotted in HEC area, a permanent campus will take time. In terms of academics and placement, we are doing good compared to some older IIMs in the country," he said.
A spokesperson for XLRI, on the other hand, questioned the credibility of NIRF.
"We don't take it seriously. For the past couple of years, we have been seeking credibility and clarity in ranking parameters. If you see in management category, those above us are mainly IITs. We had suggested that management ranking should be purely for B-schools. This is like comparing apples with oranges," he said.
Additional reporting by Praduman Choubey in Dhanbad
