Self-financing higher educational institutions in Coimbatore region are understood to have conveyed their desire to the Union Higher Education Ministry for exclusive categorisation under National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
Four self-financing colleges out of 10 in the top 100 ranking of NIRF 2023 were in Coimbatore district.
In 2024 NIRF ranking, three out of nine Coimbatore colleges in the list of top 100 ranking, were self-financing institutions.
The rest of the higher educational institutions were government and government-aided colleges.
The reasoning of the association was that the self-financing colleges do not receive any government funding when compared to government and government-aided colleges, and, hence, must be ranked separately.
It was to emphasise this point that Association of Self-Financing Arts, and heads of Arts, Science and Management Colleges of Tamil Nadu held a State-level Conference on ‘National Institutional Ranking Framework to Improve Rankings’ in Coimbatore during October. The association’s views have been conveyed to the government, sources said.
Likewise, self-financing engineering colleges in Coimbatore region have also approached the AICTE (All India Council for exclusive categorisation.
A representation was made by the private engineering institutions to AICTE Chairman T.G. Sitharam, during October when he visited Coimbatore to take part in the Graduation Day ceremony of Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology.
According to a principal of an arts and science college in the city, there is more to it than meets the eye. While the idea of exclusive categorisation of self-financing colleges for NIRF ranking with the reasoning of level-playing field is appreciable, the ground reality in government-aided colleges is that not all programmes get government aid. A majority of students in these institutions are admitted in self-financed courses, he pointed out, seeking to explain the practical difficulty in segregation.
Published - November 09, 2024 09:40 pm IST
