KOCHI: The educational institutions in Ernakulam district excelled in the 2021 national ranking published by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), ministry of education, on Thursday. Out of the 19 colleges in the state that secured a spot in the top100 colleges in the NIRF Ranking 2021, five are from Ernakulam district.
It is the highest number of colleges making it to the list from any district in Kerala. Moreover, the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) is one among the four universities in Kerala that secured a position in NIRF list of top 100 universities.
The colleges from Ernakulam which secured a place in the rank list are Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS), Kalamassery, St Teresa’s College, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam, and Maharaja’s College. With 31st rank RCSS (28 in 2020) came second in the state after University College, Thiruvananthapuram
(25).
While most colleges secured poorer ranking compared to 2020, St Teresa’s College (STC) improved its ranking to 45 from 47 in 2020. STC principal Lizzy Mathew said that the college has been improving its NIRF ranks since it applied for it in 2017. “In 2019 we secured 64th rank only. It is a proud moment for us. We aim to improve our ranking in the coming years too and the works have been started,” she said.
Mar Athanasius College (86) and Maharaja’s College (92) are new entrants to the list. However, St Albert’s College, which was ranked 97th in 2020, missed a spot in the top 100 this year.
“It is the first time Maharaja’s College has made it to the top 100 list. The college is one among the six government colleges that got a spot in the list. The various activities we undertook with commitment gave us the result,” said principal Mathew George.
While all other universities — Kerala University (27), Mahatma Gandhi University (31) and Calicut University (60) — dipped in the ranking compared to previous year, Cusat improved its ranking to 44 from 62 in 2020.
Cusat Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) director K Girish Kumar said that this was made possible because of the better all-round performance of the faculty in the areas of innovative curriculum delivery, research, innovations and professional performance.
The NIRF rankings are based on the assessment of five parameters — teaching, learning, and resources; research and professional practice, graduation outcome; outreach and inclusivity; and peer perception.
