7 of 28 Rajasthan universities apply for rankings

JAIPUR: Three-fourths of the state-funded universities in Rajasthan have not even applied for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) under the Union ministry of education. Experts called it an embarrassment for the state’s higher education department.
A report released by the ministry says that out of 28 state-funded universities in Rajasthan only seven have applied for NIRF, which measures universities in the country on 56 parameters and accordingly ensures that they get several academic and financial opportunities.The report says that 21 universities in the state have not applied for NIRF as they are not prepared to submit the detailed report required. Only one state-funded university features in a recently released list of the top 200 universities in the country.
Over the last few years, the central government has been awarding scholarships, research projects, financial aid and academic tie-ups to institutes that get high NAAC and NIRF rankings. “The central and state governments have restricted several schemes to universities and institutes with good rankings, which means that many state-funded universities are out of the league to get a share of these schemes,” said Puneet Sharma, an expert on higher education.
KB Kothari, a former UNICEF policy planner, said the state government should make it compulsory for state-funded universities to apply for NAAC and NIRF.
SR Ayurved University, Rajasthan Technical University, Rajasthan University, Kota University, Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Rajasthan Sanskrit and Rajasthan University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences are the universities that have applied for NIRF.