Mumbai varsity scores a zero on rankings test

Despite signing at least a dozen memoranda of understandings (MoUs) with international universities and introducing several new academic programmes and initiatives in the past one year, the University of Mumbai has failed to feature in the list of top 100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). This is the second time in a row that the university is failing to make it.

While the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IIT-B) bagged the third position overall, the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) ranked fourth in the pharmacy category. The University of Mumbai figured in the 101-150 band of rankings. HRD minister Prakash Javadekar released the report in Delhi on Monday.

In 2016 also, the university did not figure in the list of best universities and institutions across the country as its officials failed to send the data to the ministry. It finally collated the data and sent it this year but failed to get a spot in any of the six categories. Some of the key parameters for the rankings included teaching, learning and resources, research and the perception of the institution by its stakeholders.

While Vice Chancellor (VC) Sanjay Deshmukh could not be reached for comments despite several calls and messages, Registrar MA Khan said: "The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) would introspect what can be done to better the rankings next year."

"Research forms a very important part of these rankings and it is an area where the university has failed to progress in the last few years. The number of research projects undertaken and patents filed remain significantly low in the last few years. The university has not followed several UGC guidelines for research, including open viva and having a plagiarism-detecting software. How can we expect the ranking to be good in such a situation?" said AD Sawant, former Pro VC. "We cannot expect a university to function smoothly when its most prominent appointments are political," he said.

As per data submitted to NIRF, the number of patents filed for in 2015 was zero. So was the number of students placed through campus placement. Neeraj Hatekar, Chief of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), said that while individual departments do conduct placements, the university does not have a centralised placement cell.

A senior professor said that the ranking might be a result of the poor perception index of the university. "There are several fundamental issues like delays in declaring results, errors in mark sheets and poor grievance redressal mechanism. This affects the overall reputation," added the professor. The university was in the news recently for printing thousands of degree certificates with errors in names.

VC Sanjay Deshmukh had earlier this year come up with a Rs 3,000-crore revamp plan to construct new buildings and improve the infrastructure at the university. The VC had also announced that the university would very soon have an offshore campus in the US. In March, the university tied up with Pawan Hans and promised discounted rides over the city to its students. According to experts, all these plans have not translated into the betterment of the university in any way.