Top Universities of India 2017 – Parameters

A university is much more than research, teaching and learning. A university campus is the centre of lives of all enrolled students. Hence, the university’s infrastructure that includes everything, from lecture rooms to cafeteria and from laboratories to hostel is very important for every student.
In the “University Ranking – 2017” by Digital Learning magazine, infrastructure of universities is one of the criteria for allocating the ranks to educational institutes. While talking of the university infrastructure, we have kept in mind the following parameters:

Sports facilities
A good university is equipped with world class sports facilities so that students can exercise their bodies for stressfree minds.

Indian Universities have a separate quota for sports whereby students excelling in sports are directly given admission, with nominal consideration to their academic records. It helps high-level sportspersons as they not only get admitted to universities of their choice, but also can participate in various state and national level sporting events on behalf of the university.

Student accommodation
Student accommodation or hostel is an integral part of every university campus infrastructure. The number of rooms available should be proportionate to the number of students, specially freshers in the campus. All amenities like electricity and water with good quality nutritious food should be provided to students as well. Also security aspect of the hostel should be taken care so that students and their parents feel safe.

IT infrastructure
It is must for every student to have the access of internet for their studies. Most of the universities are providing computer access to each and every student. Nowadays, many universities in India are also providing Wi-Fi access to its students.

Library facilities
A well equipped library, in terms of number and quality of books is must for a university campus. No matter how great a role the internet has come to play, we are still a long way off the point at which having a well stocked library will not be absolutely essential. Books related to the curriculum offered in the university, general knowledge journals, newspapers and books of various other topics should be provided to the students.

Medical facilities
Medical facilities should be adequate so that any emergency situation in a university campus can be handled well. Full-time medical doctor must always be available for the students at the campus along with first aid kits.

Significance A good faculty can make or mar the reputation of any educational edifice. Their capabilities educational as well as aptitudinal can prove detrimental for any college or university.

Every educational institution is required to have a strong faculty for building a good rapport with the students. The contact between the students and teachers plays a vital role towards ensuring student’s success.

Any educational institution’s success, public or private, depends on the knowledge, skills, expertise and motivation of its human resources. Development of teachers in these areas should therefore be amongst an institution’s major and longterm goals. These developmental goals can be achieved by:

• Providing faculty with training opportunities to achieve maximum effectiveness.
• Ensuring that faculties develop their skills and capabilities to be able to work more efficiently and be able to respond rapidly to changes within their organisations.
• Improving performance in their present job profiles.
• Ensuring that natural abilities and individual skills of all the faculties be used the optimum way for the benefit of the students and their career.

Importance of Faculty Development and training
Development and training is an inevitable and systematic process. The process of training should necessarily be directed to give every faculty a sense of professionalism, excellence, motivation and students satisfaction.

In the context of actually ensuring faculty development it is necessary to pay attention to four major areas of faculty development.

• Staff development
• Instructional development
• Organisational development
• Change management

Why Digital Learning Magazine chose Faculty as a ranking parameter for “Top Universities of India-2017”?
Growing concern over shortage of faculty in Indian universities

• According to a recent report by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, central universities in India are suffering from severe shortage of faculty.
• The committee also flagged off that the minimum qualification for a faculty member is PhD and there is a shortage of such candidates.
• The report stated that institutes were engaging faculty on contract basis to tide over the shortage.
• From well established central universities to those set up recently, state universities as well as private universities, premier institutions like IITs, NITs and IIMs, shortage of faculty has emerged as the biggest handicap for the development and expansion of Higher Education vis-a-vis maintaining the quality of education.

India is losing its talent due to brain drain
Migration of Indian scientists and engineers to the United States has reported an increase of 85% in 10 years.

• According to a report by the National Science Foundation — Immigrants’ Growing Presence in the United States Science and Engineering Workforce: Education and Employment Characteristics in 2013 — of all the immigrant scientists and engineers in the United States in 2013, 57% were born in Asia.
• Among the Asian countries, India continued its trend of being the country with the highest migrant scientists and engineers, with 9, 50,000 being out of Asia’s total 2.96 million.
• India’s 2013 figure represented an 85% rise in the rate of migration of Indian scientists and engineers to the United States from 2003.
• From 2003 to 2013, the number of scientists and engineers residing in the US grew from 21.6 million to 29 million. An important factor in this growth has been immigration.
• In 2013, 18% (5.2 million) of the scientists and engineers residing in the United States were immigrants whereas in 2003, 16% (3.4 million) were immigrants. The Digital Learning magazine considered “Faculty” as one of the parameters for its Top Universities in India-2017 Ranking because for developing a premier educational institution, it is vital to have a strong faculty, which not only assists in the cognitive development of the fellow students but also curbs rising rate of brain drain from the country to the west.

International partnerships between universities are extremely beneficial for students as well as for the university. In this era of globalisation, with the help of unhindered communication channels and inexpensive travel, universities across the world are trying to collaborate with other universities and fostering relationships with other institutions of the world. Digital Learning magazine has therefore, used “Global Collaboration” as one of the key ranking parameters for the ranking of universities.

Partnership with international universities help student recruitment in two main ways: Firstly for domestic students, global partnership offers the opportunity to travel internationally and to learn from the best education stakeholders of the world. Secondly, students get chance to explore the educational practices and culture of other nations, thereby facilitating their marketing success in the nation.

University education often leads to a life in the working world. The globalised society we live in, international collaboration programmes help students by providing the facility to study and research through an international platform. That is why, in their quest to excel, universities are looking to invest in cross-cultural university partnerships.

Last year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had come up with changes in its guidelines pertaining to tie-ups with foreign institutions or universities. Some of the key points were:

• Indian educational institutions that are going into collaborations with foreign universities should ensure that students who opt for these courses have to study at least one semester for post-graduate degrees and two semesters for undergraduate degrees abroad.
• Indian institutes with top accreditations, will now be able to approach the UGC to seek its approval for entering into academic tie-ups with esteemed education institutions abroad.
• The degree certificate for international collaborations will also mention the name of the foreign institute.
• l In view of the instances where institutes fraudulently advertise collaborations with foreign institutions, thereby creating problems for students, it has been decided that the UGC will approach the state government concerned for action in such cases. As per the new guidelines, students from foreign institutions and universities will also be allowed to enroll in Indian campuses for study and research.

International internships
Global collaboration can help students in acquiring international internships as well. Globally, a number of internships are available for students to continue their studies and research. At universities, administrative offices of respective academic departments and career services centres can serve as an avenue to explore information about internships. The same information can also be fetched out from offices of international relations or foreign affairs. Websites, social media, and old-fashioned networking are also valuable tools.

Application processes for internship vary depending upon country, visa requirements, field of employment etc. Some Indian universities offer credit scheme for already completed internships while others do not allow credit accumulation to begin until after the internships are registered. The amount of credit to be earned also varies, depending upon the learning potential of the work experience and how many hours are worked.

From a recruitment perspective, being knowledgeable about internships at institutions, within host communities, and among international organisations can have a profound impact upon the fortune of students. With so many options available, informed recruiters who know the details of internship process in their markets can offer valuable data to students.

While searching for a good university, students prefer those educational institutions that have a higher placement rate for its students. University education should lead to direct employability and we, at Digital Learning magazine, have used ‘Placements’ as one of the key parameters while ranking them.

It is important for universities to develop close relationships with corporates and companies. Just after completing their university education, students must get placed by the companies called at the university campus to hire students.

Nowadays employers are seeking graduates with “Employability” skills and attributes in addition to traditional expertise within their discipline. To support students in developing these skills, universities are now having a responsibility of creating curriculum that embeds teaching and learning of these skills.

In order to achieve better placement for the students, a university should ensure the following things:

Industry inclined curriculum
A university curriculum should include subjects that cater opportunities for students to learn academic skills, work related skills and employability skills that contribute to the holistic development of students. Such learning helps students to be more creative, critical and reflective while showcasing their capacities. These skills will be needed to achieve academic excellence and better career growth.

In order to adjust curriculum and learning experiences accordingly, it is must for universities to stay in touch with industries.

Internships
The hope of gaining an advantage for future employment has increased both the number and quality of internship applications.

Internships provide practical experience, a sample of life in a chosen field, networking opportunities, workplace confidence, and practice using specialist skills and vocabulary amongst real world customers and colleagues. All these benefits go double for university students.

Internships provide a chance to get into internal hiring queues of the companies, a crucial advantage, since instead of the default approach of recruiting from the outside, companies are refocusing on hiring from within their own ranks.Internships provide a chance to get into internal hiring queues of the companies, a crucial advantage, since instead of the default approach of recruiting from the outside, companies are refocusing on hiring from within their own ranks.

One of the key aspects to improve the placement records of the university is the training. Training should be focused on areas which will directly lead to securing jobs. More and more companies are looking at how well the students of a university are prepared to work in an industry.

Placing Right Candidates for the interviews
At the time of placements, it is the university responsibility to place the right candidates for the right job. They should be placed according to their interests and skills. This way, job placement percentage goes higher.

Universities and industries in India, for long have been functioning separately but with changing times these separate entities are creating synergies.

For catering to the demand of extremely dynamic business world, educational institutions are rapidly developing inclination towards the industry interface. Professionals are now getting trained to manage the business effectively.

This is specifically the reason why within various other fields of knowledge, desire for acquiring management qualifications is growing, both amongst the fresh graduates and working executives.

Origin of management education in India
In the 1960’s, business education formally started gaining importance in India with the establishment of two Indian Institute of Management; IIM Calcutta in association with Sloan School of Management and IIM Ahmedabad with Harvard Business School.

Why Digital Learning Magazine choose Industry Interface as a ranking parameter for “Top Universities of India-2017”?

Need for Academia-Industry Interface Academia- Industry Interface can be defined as an interactive and collaborative setup between educational institutions and business corporations for attainment of certain mutually inclusive goals and objectives.

The onset of globalisation has made the job market even more competitive. Now every college/university pass out has to compete for a job.

In addition to this, the rising demands of skilled and specialised manpower from the industrial sector are not being met, as a large section of graduates lack the necessary critical thinking and analytical skills required by the industry.

• Skill gap in India
  30 lakh graduates join the Indian job market every year but only about 5 lakh are considered employable. The sectors facing acute manpower shortage include IT, BFSI, pharma, healthcare, infrastructure, retail, auto and consumer durables, amongst others.
• By 2025, India’s demographic dividend is expected to contribute 25% of global workforce. Therefore, the magnitude of the challenge is enormous.
• According to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the growing skills gap in India is estimated to be more than 25 crore workers by 2022.
• Findings from Dale Carnegie Employee Engagement in India 2014 report indicate a high level of engagement amongst Indian workforce compared to the global average. But an alarming 52% of Indian employees remain somewhat dissatisfied in their jobs, signalling that companies have to take proactive steps to sustain engagement.

The Digital Learning magazine considered “Industry interface” as one of the parameters for its Top Universities in India-2017 ranking because Academia-Industry Interface plays a crucial role in knowledge driven economy, where the students pursuing different professional programmes are expected to be well versed in the industry working.

Employment scenario in India
Indian education system has been promoted traditional employment essentially. As a result of this, students after passing out from universities are left with the sole option of looking for jobs rather than trying their hand in entrepreneurship.
Employment scenario in India because of this tremendous need to recruit students has been confronting a major challenge of accommodating one and all graduates.

Rising unemployment amongst literate

• As per the data analysed by The Hindu (based on Census 2011), one crore Indians with graduate, postgraduate and technical degrees were looking for work, meaning that 15% of all Indians with the highest level of education were seeking job till 2011.
• Kerala had India’s highest graduate unemployment rate at over 30 per cent.
• Of the 11.6 crore Indians who were either seeking or available for work, 3.2 crore were illiterate and 8.4 crore were literate.

Why Digital Learning Magazine chose Entrepreneurship as a ranking parameter for “Top Universities of India-2017”?

Nurturing the Entrepreneurial Spirit As per official statistics, India has 677 universities and 5.6 crore graduates and post-graduates. Every year several graduates pass out from colleges. While some get into jobs others initiate startups and become entrepreneurs.

India produces 50 lakh graduates every year of which merely 50 % are employable. (Aspiring Minds Study-2013)
Entrepreneurship and start-up activities in India have registered a significant growth not only in numbers and geographic spread, but also in terms of creating enhanced levels of innovation and employment generation.

The most important trend is that educational institutions in India are beginning to play a pivotal role in developing entrepreneurial competencies and including entrepreneurship as a core course in business education.

Lately, startups are gaining a lot of popularity amongst the students and making their way to various university placement cells.

Narrating the story of recognition for startups across universities, growing networks of alumni from some of the best known colleges in India and overseas are helping entrepreneurs find money and grow businesses. From IITs, BITS Pilani to IIMs…start-ups by alumni of renowned institutes have taken India by a storm in the past few years.

Some of the best examples of successful startups are Snapdeal, Ola, TaxiforSure, Flipkart, Exotel and many more.

In order to promote entrepreneurship, many educational institutions are also coming up the idea of incubation centres.

In India, majority of incubation centers are hosted by academic institutions, and funded by DST(Department of Science and Technology), which gives them access to government agencies, as well as easy reach to professors and students in the college.

Some of the well-known ones are IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Bombay. There are other incubators too, like Technopark (Kerala) and IKP Knowledge Park (Hyderabad), with focus on certain specific sectors like technology and biotech.

For instance, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into viable businesses. In partnership with our mentors, corporates, development agencies, IIMA community and investors, CIIE cultivates a rare breed of entrepreneurs by incubating, accelerating, mentoring and funding innovative start-ups.

CIIE believes that entrepreneurship has an unmatched ability to bring about disruptive change in India and engages with ventures across technology and impact areas like energy, environment, agriculture, healthcare and affordable technology. CIIE believes it should operate in sectors and geographies where there are market failures and private support is not easy to find. (Source: Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship).

The Digital Learning magazine considered “Entrepreneurship” as one of the parameters for its Top Universities in India-2017 ranking because merely training students for getting jobs cannot be the purpose of education. Education is about developing leadership qualities amongst the students. Since entrepreneurial competencies assist in cognitive development, it plays pivotal role in analysing the level of curriculum in educational institutions.