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Assessing the National Institutional Ranking Framework

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July 03, 2020

What is the issue?

  • The National Institutional Ranking Framework’s (NIRF) rankings have become the big game in higher education.
  • In this context, here is an assessment if the rankings are really working to fulfil the purpose or not.

What is the NIRF?

  • The NIRF was approved by the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and launched in 2015.
  • The framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.
  • The ranking framework evaluates institutions on five parameters:
    1. Teaching, Learning & Resources
    2. Research & Professional Practice (RP)
    3. Graduation Outcomes
    4. Outreach & Inclusivity (OI)
    5. Perception (PR)
  • The number of participating higher educational institutions (HEI) has risen sharply.
  • It has increased from 233 universities and 803 colleges in 2017 to 294 and 1659, respectively, in 2020.
  • [There are about 1,000 universities and 40,000 colleges in India.]

What is a noteworthy trend?

  • As seen globally, there is a predominance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the top ranks.
  • In the ‘Overall’ category, the score ranges from 42 to 85.
  • But there are only 13 institutions with a score above 60.
  • Moreover, IITs and the IISc make eight of these thirteen.
  • In the ‘University’ category, the scores of top 100 range from 40 to 84.
  • But an overwhelming 65 universities have a score below 50.
  • Regional inequality, too, is glaring, and 42 of the top 100 universities are from 3 states: Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
  • Similarly, 81 colleges in the top 100 are from Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Kerala.
  • Worryingly, directing resources to the top rankers would only widen the gulf.

How rational and fair are the rankings?  

  • Rankings attempt to introduce competition between institutions operating in quasi-market environments.
  • It is laudable that the government is generating a credible benchmark through the NIRF.
  • It is also noteworthy that it is mostly based on objective indicators.
  • The PR parameter, which is widely criticised in rankings literature as ‘reputation’, is given only a small weight of 10%.
  • However, there are unintended consequences of measurement.
  • The view that anything that can be measured and rewarded will be gamed cannot be denied totally.
  • ‘Teaching to the test’ is one way in which institutions are distorted, attempting to achieve something in letter, ignoring the spirit.

How does the teaching parameter work on ground?

  • There are differences between types of institutions in terms of their functions and objectives too.
  • But the parameters and the assigned weights can distort the perception of agents.
  • For example, the core function of colleges is to produce graduates with a strong base in their subjects.
  • Hence, the NIRF assigns a higher weight for teaching in colleges.
  • Still, colleges persuade teachers, who are inclined to teaching, to increasingly do research and publish for which they are ill-equipped.
  • A 16-hour teaching load and the task of conducting all the programmes to score on various ranking parameters fall on teachers.
  • Over and above this lies the maintenance of an MIS (Management information system).
  • Faced by these constraints, teachers resort to low-quality research, and the mushrooming of predatory journals in India is the living proof for this.
  • In this process, colleges end up compromising on something that is difficult to measure - teaching.
  • According to education researchers, one major factor that helps students graduate is ‘student engagement’.
  • An important aspect of this engagement is the quality of contact with faculty.
  • In fact, it is this aspect that enriches the career of a teacher too.
  • This is severely affected in colleges due to the above said burden on teachers.
  • Students will definitely benefit by studying in institutions where teachers are happy and their job satisfaction level is high.

What are the changes needed?

  • It is certainly encouraging to see HEIs in India responding to the rankings framework.
  • Given this response, the policymakers should innovate and modify the metrics suitably.
  • Primarily, the metrics should include feedback from teachers.
  • Secondly, the rankings on the basis of different parameters should be published.
  • Although some data is available on the website, official publication of such rankings will help students make more informed decisions.
  • Another issue is that the use of PhD as a measure of quality of faculty is fraught with serious drawbacks, for the quality of PhD varies a lot.
  • A better indicator, at least for non-university categories, would be UGC-CSIR-NET.
  • The NIRF should also increase the number of ranked institutions gradually as institutions are improving their scores.
  • Notably, the score of 100th ranked college is 50 in 2020 compared to 35 in 2017.

What is the way forward?

  • Essentially, it is important not to get carried away by rankings.
  • It should be ensured that rankings inform decisions and never drive decisions.
  • The real need is heterogeneous institutions with varied missions, programmes and approaches.

 

Source: Financial Express

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