While IIT Madras was one of the few major campuses which saw a huge spike in the number of COVID patients last year, the institute managed to stay on top of the National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) India Rankings 2021, third time in a row. And all credit goes to the faculty and staff, said Dr Koshy Varghese, Dean (Administration), IIT Madras.
Dr Varghese said that people came together to work towards normalcy. "It has, indeed, been a tough year for everyone. It was only because of the commitment of all faculty and staff members of IIT Madras that we were able to maintain due diligence in whatever we do. Whether it was switching over from physical classrooms to online education, examinations, placements and even research work, everyone came together to give their best and ensured that none of our activities were hampered much," he said.
While not many faculty members were infected, the campus saw a huge number of cases and was even shut down earlier this year. "The most challenging part was to keep up with our research commitments, especially lab work while keeping everyone safe," said the Dean. "It was pertinent that our research scholars are able to do high-quality work and pursue their dreams. The challenge was to offer an enabling environment while ensuring everyone’s safety," he said.
But the road does not end at the NIRF Rankings. After starting, the world’s first-ever online BSc degree in Programming and Data Science last year the institute plans to continue to "contribute towards finding disruptive solutions to the daunting challenges faced by our country in the area of water, energy, healthcare, transportation, housing and education, to mention some", said the professor.
The IIT had scored 83.88 and 85.31 in the NIRF 2019 and NIRF 2020 ranking, respectively. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the NIRF 2021. Like every other event for the past two years, this too was revealed online on various video and social media platforms. In the sixth edition of the rankings, eight IITs and two national Institutes of Technology (NITs) figured in the top ten engineering institutions in the country. The NIRF ranks education institutes and universities all over India across several parameters including teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcome outreach and inclusivity, and perception.
