The eighth edition of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was released on June 5 and for the fifth time, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras remained the country’s top-ranked educational institute followed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.
Additionally, IIT Madras has also bagged first rank under the Engineering and Research category and second rank under the Innovation category. Delighted by this, Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras feels motivated and confident to work harder for serving the academic needs of the country.
Speaking to EdexLive he said, "We have continued to be in the Number One position in the Engineering category for the eight consecutive year and in the Overall category for the fifth consecutive year. We have retained the second spot in the Research category preceded by the Indian Institute of Science and in the newly introduced Innovation category, we are Numbber 2 preceded by IIT Kanpur," he added.
NIRF Ranking, a motivation
Reacting to the NIRF ranking, the director said, "These awards give me a lot more motivation to work much harder and also confidence that whatever we have been doing so far is on the right lines and that we can continue this important journey of serving the academic needs of our country."
Further, the director said the institute finds scope in its improvements among the parameters of the NIRF Rankings. In this regard, he said, "The NIRF ranking has been a very important parameter that guides the institution in different aspects/activities which include teaching, research, perception, social outreach, innovation and also the different type of support systems we give to the students for their welfare."
"In all these parameters, every year, we do find something that we can improve and this journey has been quite very deep and insightful," he highlighted. Giving more details about the journey, he told EdexLive, "When we were at .75 in some scores, making it to .85 was much easier. And when we are at .85 or .9, making it to .91 is going to be a very tough process." However, we are learning a lot of things about how we are improving this course, he added.
Above rankings and ratings
The director affirms that "More than the rankings or ratings we are getting, this framework is actually serving the institute in continuously aspiring to become better and serve both the technological needs and academic needs of the nation."
Further, the director expressed his gratitude to students, faculty, staff, industry partners and the alumni who have all been on this great journey. Adding to this, he said, "I also would like to place on record the unstinted support that has been extended by the Ministry of Education and the Government of India."
Lastly, he concludes by saying, "Let this NIRF award be given to the staff, students and faculty of IIT Madras that we shall never be unmindful of our obligation to serve the technology, social and academic needs of our country."
