Shillong, Aug 14: The constant flight of capital and human resource from the northeast for the pursuit of higher education is not without reasons as universities and colleges from northeast have fared poorly in the national rankings.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024, in its ninth edition, under the Ministry of Education for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) assessed 10,845 such institutions from across the country this year.

Sadly, none of the HEIs (state colleges and universities) from the northeast came anywhere close to be top notch. Leave alone top 10, none were in the top 50 in the overall ranking. The closest that any HEI came was Gauhati University in Assam, with an overall ranking of 57.

The only saving grace was National HEIs like the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) which was ranked 9th and the National Institute of Technology Silchar (NIT Silchar), ranked 92nd in the overall rankings.

Others are gloating that they have featured in the top 200 and that speaks of the kind of standards these institutions are happy with. Take for example the controversial University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM).

It promptly issued a press statement expressing “extreme happiness” that it was ranked among the top 200 universities of the country – and why not?

USTM has reason to be extremely happy as it has closed the gap with a central university like the Shillong based North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in the ‘University category’ rankings. NEHU has been placed in the 101 to 150 band, while USTM in the 150 to 200 band. In a way that is not bad considering USTM, a private institution was established in 2011 and NEHU, flush with funds, in 1973!

NEHU is in the 150-200 band in the ‘overall HEIs’ rankings of 2024. In 2023, it was in the 101- 150 band of ‘overall’ category and 80th in the ‘university’ category; in 2022, in was again in the 101- 150 band of ‘overall’ category but was at 66th rank in ‘university’ category; in 2021, in was 90th in overall category and 59th in ‘University’ category; in 2020, 74th in ‘overall’ and 49th in ‘university’ category;

The year 2019 was probably the best for the university’s image as it was ranked 62nd best all India or ‘overall’ and was 39th in ‘university’ category. However, in 2018, it had ranked 88th in ‘overall’ and 61st in ‘university’ category; in 2017, it had ranked 77th ‘overall’ and 48th in ‘university’ category.

The best rank till date NEHU has achieved is in 2016, when it had ranked 15th in the country. However, that was the first time NIRF ranks had been released and there were only four categories – University, Engineer, Management and Pharmacy; there was no overall category. It was also in 2016 that Tezpur University in Assam was ranked 5th all India, when a total of 3565 had participated in the rankings.

So where did the HEIs in the northeast go wrong? First a look at the criteria on which the NIRF was based upon. The ranking looked upon “teaching learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduation outcome, outreach and inclusivity and finally perception.”

Teaching learning and resources

In the teaching learning and resources area the ranking found the “higher education sector in India is currently facing significant challenges related to the quality of education and the employability of its graduates.”

Out of the total HEIs assessed there were a total 2.84 lakh faculty. Out of these, 1.67 lakh faculty held a Ph.D., representing 58.66 percent whereas 1.17 lakh faculty were Master degree holders representing 41.34 percent of the total.

“It was observed that faculty with doctoral qualification is concentrated in top 100 institutions, while remaining institutions have fewer faculty with doctoral degrees. This is a serious handicap since mentorship received during the doctoral training as Teaching Assistant can play a vital role in preparing the faculty for a teaching career in higher education,” NIRF found.

It was further observed that faculty with Ph.D. in top 100 institutions vary from minimum of 62.98 percent in case of college category to the maximum of 93.45 percent in case of Management institutions. The faculty with Ph.D. in remaining institutions varied from minimum of 32.30 percent in case of pharmacy institutions to the maximum of 67.55 percent in case of Universities.

Research and Professional practices
In this arena the top 100 institutions in management and pharmacy contributed 82.58 percent and 75 percent of total publications as compared to remaining 679 management and 339 pharmacy institutions that contributed just 17.42 percent and 25 percent of total publications respectively.

The ranking observed that the ratio of contribution in terms of number of publications between the top 100 institutions and the remaining institutions in case of universities, engineering and overall was 68:32; 60:40, and 59:41 respectively. “Most of the research is being conducted within the top 100 institutions in most of the categories or subject domains”, it said.

The top 100 Universities and the top 100 Pharmacy institutions hold 62.04 percent and 59.28 percent of total patents published respectively, compared to 37.96 percent and 40.72 percent held by the remaining 339 universities and equal number of pharmacy institutions.

The ranking agency stated: “It indeed is disheartening to note that a significant number of eligible institutions have no publications at all. 435 management institutions (out of 779 eligible applicant institutions) and 443 colleges (out of 1596 eligible applicant colleges) have zero publications.”

“This is not surprising since many of these see their primary role in undergraduate education (colleges) and to a lesser extent, the focus is on ‘case studies’ rather than on research publications in case of management institutions.”

Considering all these factors it has been found that India’s share of the world publications in the overall category is a minuscule 5.21 percent.

Graduation Outcome
The number of students graduating with a Ph.D has increased from 2021-22 to 2022-23. The full-time Ph.D. students who graduated from 1374 eligible institutions in overall category during the academic years 2021-22 and 2022-23 stands at 28,089 and 35,379, respectively. It can be observed that the percentage of increase in Ph.D. awarded was 14.59 percent and 9.91 percent in the academic years 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively.

Outreach and Inclusivity
In these HEIs 73.32 percent of students were enrolled from within the state, 25.72 percent of students came from other states and less than 1 percent students were from outside the country. These 45,674 students (<1 percent) from outside the country were studying in 496 institutions of higher education in India.

During the academic year 2022 – 2023, out of total 47,60,498 students, 26,51,363 (55.70 percent) were male and 21,09,135 (44.30 percent ) were females. Similarly, out of the total 2,83,887 faculty, 1,65,142 (58.18 percent) were males and 1,18,745 (41.82 percent ) were females for the academic year 2022 – 2023.

Thus, it can be seen the ratio of male to female students and also faculty tilts in favour of the male and there is substantial work that needs to be done to balance the ratio in HEIs.

Perception
On the perception of peers and employers across various categories of HEIs, it was found that both peers and employers view favourably towards the ‘overall’ category (21.25 percent and 24.17 percent).

Perception in Engineering is (16.69 percent and 18.79 percent), Research (16.54 percent and 13.71 percent), College (14.00 percent and 10.86 percent), and Management (10.03 percent and 15.48 percent) categories.

These categories significantly outpace others in terms of perceived importance and value.

Categories such as Law, Architecture and Planning, Pharmacy, Dental, Agriculture and Allied Sectors and Innovation receive notably lower vote shares from both peers and employers.

Specifically, vote share of these categories / subject domains range from 1.27 percent (Law) to 3.24 percent (Innovation) in academic perception and 0.48 percent (Agriculture and Allied Sectors) to 4.86 percent (Innovation) in employer perception.

The low percentages in these categories indicate a lesser emphasis or recognition in comparison to the more dominant fields.

Regional outlook
The maximum representation comes from the Southern part of India (36 percent) that hosts a larger number of institutions of higher education followed by the HEIs in Northern India (30 percent). Western and Eastern regions of India account for 19 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Reasons for poor performance
Considering all these factors, the HEIs from northeast India need to have a fresh look at the qualification of the faculties at its institution. The emphasis on Ph.Ds as a faculty cannot be overlooked.

Moreover, since most of the HEIs from the region didn’t feature in the top 100, it is perceived that the institutions here give less focus or importance on research work and its publication. Research work is vital for the development of any HEI and also for the country.

There could be a substantial number of HEIs, which have zero publication of research papers. The publication of research papers by the institutions has to be given a serious thought and effort.

Moreover, far lesser students are now pursuing Ph.Ds, which is an area that must be looked at. These institutions must also start attracting students from across the country and that is possible only when the northeast as a whole has an image makeover in terms of security concerns and better connectivity.

Some of these HEIs are in a factory-mode churning out “unemployable graduates” thus adding to the high unemployment rate among the youth in this region.

Notable HEIs from the region in NIRF 2024 Rankings in overall and individual categories: 

Overall Category
The top 200 institutions in India were ranked by NIRF in its 2024 rankings. Rankings were provided for top 100 institutions, and the remaining institutions were put in ranking bands, such as 101 to 150, and 151 to 200.
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam – 9th
Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam – 57th
National Institute of Technology Silchar, Assam – 92nd
Assam University, Silchar, Assam – 101 to 150 rank band
Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam – 101 to 150 rank band
Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram – 101 to 150 rank band
Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam – 101 to 150 rank band
Manipur University, Imphal, Manipur – 151 to 200 rank band
North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya – 151 to 200 rank band

Universities Category
This category listed top 200 universities in the country. Here also, rankings were provided for top 100 universities, and the remaining universities were put in ranking bands of 101 to 150, and 151 to 200.
Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam – 40th
Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam – 69th
Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram – 77th
Assam University, Silchar, Assam – 101 to 150 rank band
Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam – 101 to 150 rank band
Manipur University, Imphal Manipur – 101 to 150 rank band
North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya – 101 to 150 rank band
Central Agricultural University, Imphal West, Manipur – 151 to 200 rank band
Sikkim Manipal University, Gangtok, Sikkim – 151 to 200 rank band
Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim – 151 to 200 rank band
University of Science and Technology Meghalaya, Ri Bhoi, Meghalaya – 151 to 200 rank band

Colleges Category
This category listed top 300 colleges in the country. Here too, rankings were provided for top 100 colleges, and the remaining colleges were put in ranking bands of 101 to 150, and 151 to 200, and 201 to 300. Interestingly, only 4 colleges from the region were deemed to be among the best 300 in the country despite some of these colleges being almost 100 years old with long legacies.
Pachhunga University College, Aizawl, Mizoram – 35th
Patkai Christian College, Dimapur, Nagaland – 101 to 150 rank band
Nowgong College, Nagaon, Assam – 201 to 300 rank band
St. Anthony’s College, Shillong, Meghalaya – 201 to 300 rank band

Engineering Category
NIRF 2024 ranked 300 engineering institutions across the country this year. Four institutions from the region feature in top 100. Here as well, after the first 100 institutions, no ranks are provided. They are banded together in 101 to 150, 151 to 200, and 201 to 300.
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam – 7th
National Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar, Assam – 40th
National Institute of Technology Meghalaya – 68th
National Institute of Technology Agartala, Tripura – 82nd
National Institute of Technology Arunachal Pradesh – 101 to 150 rank band
National Institute of Technology Manipur – 101 to 150 rank band
National Institute of Technology Mizoram – 101 to 150 rank band
Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Assam – 151 to 200 rank band
National Institute of Technology Nagaland – 151 to 200 rank band
National Institute of Technology Sikkim – 151 to 200 rank band
North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh – 151 to 200 rank band
Tezpur University, Assam – 151 to 200 rank band
Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT), Rangpo, Sikkim – 201 to 300 rank band

Management Category
NIRF ranked 125 institutions offering management courses. There are only two institutions from the region in the list, and both are in top 100.
Indian Institute of Management Shillong – 24th rank
Tezpur University in Assam – 95th rank

Pharmacy Category
In the pharmaceutical category, there are two institutions in top 100 and two more in rank band of 101 to 125.
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Guwahati, Assam – 12th rank
Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam – 43rd
Assam Down Town University, Guwahati, Assam – 101 to 125 rank band
Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, Guwahati, Assam – 101 to 125 rank band

Law Category
NIRF ranked 40 institutes in this category and only one institute from the region made it to the list.
National Law University and Judicial Academy, Kamrup, Assam – 27th rank

Research Category
In this category, 50 institutions were ranked for focusing on research and coming out with ground-breaking discoveries, and only one institute from the region made it to the list.
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam – 10th rank

Agriculture and Allied Sectors category
40 institutes were ranked in this category, and two from North East made it to the list.
Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam – 14th
Central Agricultural University, Imphal West, Manipur – 31st

State Public University category
In this category, two universities from the region made it to the top 50 state public universities in the country.
Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam – 13th
Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam – 28th

Besides the above categories, there were six more categories in which the education institutions were ranked but none from the region could find a space. These categories are: Medical, Dental, Architecture and Planning, Innovation, Open university, Skill University.

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