India News | Despite Adverse Situations, JU's NIRF Ranking is Commendable: Officiating VC

Kolkata, Aug 13 (PTI) Jadavpur University officiating Vice-Chancellor Bhaskar Gupta on Tuesday expressed happiness that the varsity secured the second position in the state public university ranking done by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

He said this was commendable though the higher educational institution did not have any permanent vice chancellor for a long time.

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Jadavpur University (JU) and Calcutta University (CU) are within the top five among state public universities in the NIRF ranking which was announced by Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday.

JU has bagged the second spot while CU has secured the fourth place.

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"This happened as we weathered certain adversities. Despite urgent needs, we could not appoint teachers and take many administrative decisions in the absence of a permanent VC," Gupta told PTI.

JU has remained without a permanent VC since March last year.

"We were also dogged by certain controversies. But all these did not deter us from pursuing the goal of academic excellence, in the fields of research and academic activities," he said.

Pointing out that JU is yet to get the allocated Rs 100 crore amount from Rashtriya Uchchatar Siksha Abhiyan (RUSA), he said, "We have been issuing appeals continuously. But in the present situation, we have to mobilise our own resources.

The alumni association has also been of great help to the cash-starved higher educational institution, Gupta said to a question.

Two autonomous colleges in the state - Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College at Rahara in North 24-Parganas which bagged the third rank and St. Xavier's College, Kolkata which bagged the sixth position - were also in the same NIRF category.

In the overall university category consisting of both state and central universities, JU dropped from fourth to ninth place in comparison to the previous year's rankings.

"We have to analyse the parameters of overall university ranking to find out why we slipped," Gupta said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)