Lack of faculty and research led Mysore Univ to lose better ranking in the country: VC

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022 were released on July 15, Friday 
University of Mysore secured 33rd rank | Pic: EdexLive
University of Mysore secured 33rd rank | Pic: EdexLive

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore, G Hemantha Kumar, said that the varsity, which had been recently ranked 33rd in the country by the National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF), would have earned a better position if it had the faculty strength and research output. 

He was speaking at the inauguration of the one-day workshop on 'Research methodology and publication' organised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (CSIR - UGC NET) Training Centre, Internal Quality Assurance Cell and Mysore University Research Scholars Association at EMRC Auditorium on Tuesday, July 26, as stated in a report by ENS.

While highlighting that higher education institutions in the country are growing in numbers rapidly, with India having more than 52,000 institutions, he said that, "It is a four-fold increase in comparison with 2001 figures. There is nothing much to rejoice about the numbers. The growing numbers have a snowballing effect on the challenges faced by the country," as per ENS.

Stating that low employability of graduates, falling standards of teaching, unproductive governance, dwindling funds and complex regulatory policies have compounded the problems already faced by the country, the VC said that access to higher education remains a distant goal for many aspirants. 

"Presently, the figure stands at 27.1 per cent, far from the target of achieving 32 per cent by 2022. The situation demands a complete overhaul of education in India for quality education. The Central and state governments are trying to transform educational systems to cater to society's aspirations," he said, as per ENS.

He added that the National Education Policy (NEP) is an ambitious stride forward in revamping the educational system, including higher education. Although the university took a leading role in implementing the NEP in Karnataka, the unexpected COVID pandemic became a stumbling block to the progress of the past three years.

"The NIRF, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and other ranking agencies have impacted the quality of education offered by the higher education institutions in India. The university performance is quite admirable under the challenging situations. Although not exemplary, last year, the university was accredited with an A grade by NAAC and recently ranked 33 in the University category," he said, as per ENS. 

Adding that the grading has placed the university in the top position among the state universities in Karnataka, the VC also lamented the fact that the university would have earned better rankings if they had the required faculty strength and research output. "Research output is measured quantitatively. The rankings of the institutions are based on the thematic parameters. The lower rankings impact an institution's funding negatively. We need to improve upon the situation very consciously. The statistics show that the research output of the university is sliding fast. One ascribing factor may be faculty strength," he said, as per ENS. 

Urging the faculty and research to shoulder more responsibility to climb up the ladder of the research landscape, the VC said that every effort from the research students must publish at least one research paper annually. "We expect a minimum one thousand papers published yearly by researchers from the University of Mysore. My advice is to publish in journals listed in the UGC Care list or indexed by citation databases, such as WoS and Scopus. The university is willing to extend any help required for the research," he said. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) former director P Balaram and Gulbarga University's former VC SR Niranjan were also present at the workshop.

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