3 min readPuneJul 17, 2022 08:47 AM IST
First published on: Jul 16, 2022 at 12:36 AM IST
Nicknamed the ‘Oxford of the East’ at one point, it appears that the tag of Pune as one of the country’s leading education hubs is fast slipping. The poor performance of educational institutions of the city — in the national rankings of top institutions across the country released by Union HRD Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday — is a reflection of the same.
The results of the National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022, which ranks higher educational institutions across the country under various categories, aren’t encouraging for Pune. Only two institutions from the city made it to the top 10 in the NIRF list. D Y Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune ranked third among the top five dental colleges in the country, slipping from its second position last year while Symbiosis Law School was placed at number 3 among law schools in the country, a significant improvement from its ninth position last year.
The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), which until two years ago, was being considered for the coveted Institute of Eminence (IoE) tag, slipped to 12th position. The institute ranked number 9th in the country among all universities in 2020 and lost its place among the top 10 in 2021 slipping to 11th position.
Acting Vice-Chancellor of SPPU, Dr Karbhari Kale blamed the Covid-19 pandemic partially for the decline. “As the Covid-19 situation has reduced the number of out-of-state and foreign students, the student-teacher ratio has shifted, resulting in a difference in cumulative grading. But I hope we can do better in the future,” he said.
Dr Sanjeev Sonawane, Pro Vice-Chancellor, SPPU said the number of foreign students is less as there are some limitations as a state university. “Jadavpur University of Calcutta is ranked the first public university in the country. But they have 1,200 teachers while we have only 368 approved teachers and 50 per cent of these approved posts are vacant. Therefore, if we want to maintain our position in the future, the cooperation of the state government is necessary,” he said.
On the other hand, Vidya Yeravdekar, pro-chancellor of Symbiosis University, celebrated the positioning of the law school as third best in the country and the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) at number 17th in the country, crediting an enhanced focus on research and capability building.
Among the other educational institutions, the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune has been ranked 24 overall, last year it was 24. Among the top 100 universities, both Symbiosis International University has been ranked 32 (38 last year) and the D Y Patil Vidyapeeth ranked 41 (46 last year) improved considerably.
Among the engineering colleges, the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and College of Engineering Pune ranked 71st and 72nd in the country. Poona College of Pharmacy, Pune ranked 21 among pharmacy colleges, Dr D Y Patil Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Research was ranked 41 and AISSMS College of Pharmacy was ranked 76.
Symbiosis Law School, Pune (Facebook) 
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