Coimbatore might be a Tier-II city but five colleges from the town have featured in the top five lists in various categories of the newly released Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA). The Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu released the rankings over a video conference on August 18 in the presence of the Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and other concerned officials and lawmakers.
Avinashilingam Institute For Home Science And Higher Education For Women from Coimbatore fared the best — the college ranked first in the Higher Educational Institutions Exclusively for Women Category. This year, only two institutes were ranked under the category. This was the first time women-only institutes were ranking in ARIIA rankings. The Sri Krishna College of Technology and the Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology ranked second and fourth in the self-financed private institutes' category.
The Coimbatore Institute of Technology and PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, also from the city fared well in the Government and Government Aided College and Institutes. While Coimbatore Institute of Technology came second in the category, PSGR Krishnammal College for Women ranked fifth in the same. The ARIIA ranking, which is now getting wide acceptance among India HEIs and it will certainly inspire Indian institutions to reorient their mindset and build ecosystems to encourage high-quality research, innovation and entrepreneurship. Moreover, ARIIA aims at setting a direction for institutions for future development for making them globally competitive and in forefront of innovation, said a statement from the Education Ministry.
Naidu said that India was known as the Vishwaguru or the leader of the world and it is time to make India the centre of education. "We need to tap the youth of India. They must be given guidance and freedom to explore new frontiers. There are hidden talents in them and we need to recognise it, nurture it and promote it. Our education institutes must reinvent themselves to focus on innovation," said the Vice-President. "Mere confidence will not suffice. We need to be self-reliant and for self-reliance, we need innovation. Greater emphasis is given to promote the knowledge of society. The culture of innovation and entrepreneurship among students will make them out-of-the-box thinkers. They will be job creators and not job thinkers," said Naidu.
The VP also harped on the fact that there needs to be more research that helps the farmers and the rural population of India. "Farmers of the country are agitated. They are ready to put in hard work. Despite the adversity of Coronavirus, the production of agriculture has gone up. Hats off to the farmers. They are the backbone of our country. The researchers, innovators coming up should put the focus on agriculture," said Naidu. "Innovation must become the heartbeat for education. I congratulate all institutes who have achieved top ranks. I would not only like to congratulate the heds but all the youngsters and people working in them. Other institutes which could not rank up should double their effort and focus more attention on innovation," said Naidu.
