The recent National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings has prompted the College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram (CET) to step up research and urge the faculty to take up research guideship in their areas of specialisation.
The renewed thrust on research and development comes amid the college’s bittersweet performance wherein it retained top position among the colleges that came under the purview of the State government, at the same time falling to the 85th rank from the 71st. It also fell six rungs to reach the 11th position among architecture colleges.
While the college managed to maintain last year’s performance in most parameters, a significant decrease in score of ‘Graduation Outcomes’ from 60.96 to 55.58 (out of 100) adversely affected its standing.
Explaining the reasons behind the ranking, college Principal Jiji C.V. pointed out that the exclusion of factors such as students’ placement and median salary in determining the score led to its fall in the pan-India rankings, despite registering a marginal increase in ‘Research and Professional Practice’.
Besides, a weightage of 40% reserved for the number of graduated PhD students in determining the score adversely affected its performance, considering only 14 had graduated last year. The college currently has 127 students who pursued doctoral degrees.
The college has now directed all of its faculty members to register for PhD and to produce at least one Science Citation Index (SCI)-indexed publication every year. In order to boost research guideship, professors holding doctoral degrees have been asked to register as research guides if they have not done yet. The faculty members have also been urged to acquire sponsored research projects from various funding agencies.
Research guides
The CET has only 60 research guides despite boasting of a 298-member faculty among which 118 possessed PhDs. The number of teachers holding doctoral degrees is bound to increase to around 80% within three years, Dr. Jiji said.
Any delay in filling teaching posts also does not hold the institution in good stead. Twelve faculty members, including seven who held doctoral degrees, retired this year.
