The NIRF framework is the brainchild of Minister of Human Resource and Development [MHRD] which aims to rank educational institutions on a scale based on parameters like –
NIRF:
- Eruption
- Learning outcome
- Research
- Teaching
- Industry
The 2019 NIRF ranked 860 institutions ranging from – medical, engineering, social sciences, law, universities, etc.
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The report of the framework includes –
- About 21% of the total ranked institutes are in Tamil Nadu.
- This equals the total number present in Gujrat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha and U.P.
- Kerala has also bared well compared to North India states.
Hence there is dominance by the southern states and disparity among the central and northern ones.
The following reasons can be attributed to this
- The populist policy adopted by T.N and Kerala.
- These policies include welfare measures in educations, health, etc.
- The dominance of regional parties like AIDADMK in TN, CPI in Kerala bags on the welfare politics to win elections.
However, the Northern and Central states are dominated by national parties like BJP and Congress which focus more on agrarian distress and infrastructure development.
Their regional variations have come out in the public domain by the NIRF framework. This platform can be further utilized in enhancing higher education by—
- Promoting healthy competition between the institution and their respective states.
- The institute of eminence scheme should include more institutes in future so that they are encouraged to perform better.
- This should allow them autonomy to design their curriculum as per their requirement, recruit foreign faulty.
- Introduce novel courses, short term courses which are industrial friendly.
- A collaborative platform of better performing institute can be made with the industry players to streamline employment opportunities.
Thus, NIRF can play a key role in improving the state of higher education in India.