NIRF 2024: Patkai among top 150 colleges in India; NIT Nagaland makes strides

No progress for State’s sole central university

Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 13

Patkai Christian College – Autonomous (PCC), which achieved the rare milestone in 2023 of being listed as the first college in Nagaland to be among the top 200 in India, has further improved its ranking this year. According to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) India Rankings 2024, released by the Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on August 12, Patkai’s ranking progressed to the 101-150 rank band in the ‘College’ category. Last year, it was in the 151-200 rank band.

This achievement is remarkable, as a total of 3,371 colleges participated in the general degree colleges category, according to Ministry data. The first autonomous college in the North-East, Patkai was the only college in the region to be ranked among the top 200, apart from Pachhunga University College in Mizoram, whose stellar ranking declined marginally from 34 in 2023 to 35 in 2024 in the ‘College’ category.

In its Golden Jubilee year, the 2024 NIRF ranking is another national achievement for Patkai, following its selection for the ‘Star College Scheme’ by the Department of Biotechnology, Union Ministry of Science & Technology earlier this year.

“This remarkable achievement is due to the collective efforts of all the faculty and staff of the college, and also the achievement of our students in progressing to higher levels of education and getting placements in governmental and reputed non-governmental organisations,” remarked PCC Principal Dr. Thepfuvilie Pierü on the new achievement.

Meanwhile, there was another positive development for educational institutions in the State in the ‘Engineering’ category, with the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Nagaland re-entering the 151-200 rank band for 2024. The State’s lone ‘Institute of National Importance’ first achieved this feat in 2017, but its ranking had been floundering thereafter.

However, the performance of Nagaland University (NU) continues to stagnate, and it failed for two consecutive years to feature in the top 200 in the ‘University’ category. Since its best performance in 2018, when it was ranked as one of the top 100 universities in India at 95, NU’s standing has been on a declining trend. In 2019 and 2020, it was placed in the 101-150 rank band, but it declined further to the 151-200 band in 2021 and 2022. In 2023 and 2024, it failed to feature in the top 200 universities in India list.

According to the NIRF portal, apart from NU, NIT, and PCC, other institutes from Nagaland participating in NIRF 2024 were Fazl Ali College, SD Jain Girls’ College, St Joseph’s College, St Xavier’s College, Tetso College, Unity College, and St Joseph University.

Overall Key Highlights 
A press release from the Union Ministry of Education informed that 9th edition of NIRF in 2024 added four distinct categories: State Public Universities, Open Universities, Skill Universities; and Integration of “Innovation” ranking into the NIRF framework.
With these, the existing portfolio of India Rankings has increased to 16 categories and subject domains, it said. 

A total number of 6,517 unique institutions participated for ranking under “Overall”, category-specific or domain-specific rankings including 2,781 in Overall Category, 1,463 in Engineering, and 3,371 in General Degree Colleges. 

Meanwhile, Indian Institute of Technology Madras retained its 1st position in Overall Category for the sixth consecutive year and in Engineering for 9th consecutive years.

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru topped the Universities Category for ninth consecutive year, and also stood first in Research Institutions Category for the fourth consecutive year.

IIM Ahmedabad topped in Management subject retaining its first position for fifth consecutive year while All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi occupied the highest slot in Medical for the seventh consecutive year and was also at 7th position in Overall category. 

In the ‘College’ category, Hindu College secured the 1st position for the first time replacing Miranda House which retained its 1st position for seven consecutive years from 2017 to 2023.

Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi topped the ranking in Pharmacy while IIT Roorkee retained its 1st position in Architecture and Planning for the fourth consecutive year. 

National Law School of India University, Bengaluru retained its first position in Law for the seventh consecutive year.

The Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai takes the top slot in Dental subject for the third consecutive year while Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi takes the top slot in Agriculture and Allied Sectors for the second consecutive year.

Anna University, Chennai headed the State Public Universities slot while Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), topped the Open Universities Category introduced for the first time in 2024.

Symbiosis Skill and Professional University (SSPU), Pune topped the first ever Skill Universities category while IIT Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur take the crown for the ‘Innovation’ category.