Bishop Heber College’s NIRF ranking withdrawn

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has withdrawn the ranking of Bishop Heber College, Tiruchi, under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), 2018.

The college had secured third rank in the country among arts and science colleges in 2018. In 2017, the college had bagged the fourth rank.

The withdrawal of the ranking has been notified in the official NIRF website, though no reason has been given.

The parameters of the ranking broadly cover “teaching, learning and resources,” “research and professional practices,” “graduation outcomes,” “outreach and inclusivity,” and “perception,” according to the website.

When contacted, Paul D. Dhayabaran, Principal, Bishop Heber College, said that the college had not received any communication regarding this.

Complaint to NBA
The action is said to be a fallout of the detection of partial submission of data by the college and exclusion of details about the self-financing courses.

The institution had apparently excluded the faculty members of self-financing courses that it offered.

According to reliable sources, while applying for the 2018 ranking, the college had submitted data mainly about the faculty members of those falling under the government-aided category as against the requirement to furnish complete details about all programmes offered to the students. But, the college did not include the details on about 200-odd faculty members and students under the self-financing category.

Some of the city-based colleges wrote to the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) in New Delhi, the ranking agency for the NIRF, a few months ago and complained about the submission of partial data by Bishop Heber College.

They complained that the college had managed to score high marks by providing data that would fetch more marks.

Since most of the government-aided faculty members were credited with Ph.Ds or had cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State Level Eligibility Test (SLET), the college had scored high marks in that category. It gave an undue advantage to the college and pushed several other similar institutions down, it was pointed out.

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