The University of Mysore, which is vying for Central University status and was even allotted a special grant of Rs.100 crore in the 2008-09 Union Budget for development as a Centre for Excellence, does not figure among the top 100 varsities in the list released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in New Delhi, on Monday.
An official in the university told The Hindu on conditions of anonymity that they were asked to upload the documents and other details pertaining to various parameters but due to technical glitches only a portion of it could be uploaded on time.
Hence he suspected that the Ministry of Human Resource Development did not receive all details on time. When contacted, Vice-Chancellor K.S.Rangappa said he would ascertain the reasons as to what went wrong.
However, Mr. Rangappa, said there was no question of the university not being among the top institutions in the country – though it may have not figured in the top 100 list of the Ministry of Human Resource Development due to technical reasons.
“We are trying to rate ourselves at the international-level and have applied for Asian and World ranking status through accredited agencies who will visit the university, inspect, assess and rate it on various parameters, including quality of staff, the number of papers published, research activity, patents applied for, Ph.Ds produced, among others,” Mr. Rangappa said.
Interestingly, the University Grants Commission (UGC) recognised it as a University with Potential for Excellence (UPE) a few years ago.
Meanwhile, a university professor said such common rankings across the board cannot be considered scientific as each university or institution will have its areas of strength and weakness.
What is pertinent is that many of the lesser-known universities, with not much infrastructure to boot, figure in the top 100 ranking, while the University of Mysore, which is also seeking the Innovative University status to focus on research, has been left out.
Prof. G.L. Shekar, Principal, National Institute of Engineering in the city, which was ranked 96th in the country, said such rankings were broad indicators.
He said National Institute of Engineering, like some of the top institutions, was going beyond classrooms.
He said the institute was focussing on research and publication of papers and this year alone more than 200 papers have been published in both national and international journals. The college has also so far applied for 15 patents , he said.
