Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), which had been the centre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, has ranked first in the list of Central Universities released by the Ministry of Education, beating JNU and Aligarh University among a list of 40 other central varsities.
A detailed look at the grading and scoring of Central Universities reveals that Jamia has secured the highest score of 90 percent, followed by Rajiv Gandhi University of Arunachal Pradesh at 83 percent, Jawaharlal Nehru University at 82 percent and Aligarh Muslim University at 78 percent.
According to a statement issued by JMI, the ranking is based on a tri-party evaluation signed between the varsity and the HRD Ministry (now Ministry of Education) and the University Grants Commission.
“All the universities were required to sign a tripartite MoU with MHRD (ministry of education) and UGC for continuous evaluation. Jamia was the first university in 2017 to sign this MoU and present itself for performance evaluation.”JMI Statement
How was the rank calculated?
The rank or score was based on parameters like number of students admitted annually in UG, PG, PhD and MPhil as well the range of diversity among students, measured in terms of percentage of female students as well as the percentage of students from other states and countries.
Additionally, aspects like faculty quality, student-teacher ratio, teacher vacancy and other factors were also included in the list of parameters used to determine the score. Students placed through campus interviews and those qualifying for NET & GATE, among other entrance tests.
What did the university say?
According to The Times of India, Vice Chancellor Najma Aktar said that the feat was even more significant as the varsity had gone through a ‘challenging time’ in the recent past. “High-quality teaching, relevant and focused research and improved perception of the university,” were some of the factors credited by VP Akhtar.
What challenging time was VC Akhtar referring to?
On 15 December 2019, police had entered the campus to round up "miscreants" who it said had turned the ongoing CCA protest violent. But video footages from the evening show that police had assaulted students, broken into the campus library, vandalised college furnitures and destroyed the CCTV cameras.
The incident had created a massive uproar across the country and even abroad, making Jamia the epicentre of student-led protests against CAA for months.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)