Lohia regrets Presidency not getting HRD score by NIRF

The vice-chancelor of the Presidency University, Anuradha Lohia, has regretted the premier institution's inability to find a place among top 100 colleges, and blamed it on Union HRD ministry's National Institutional Ranking Framework.
Lohia said that the university had nothing to do with it since every formality had been completed correctly and the NIRF itself had acknowledged it.
"They should have given us a score as every communication was made correctly and the completed form had been submitted and returned by them saying it was in order. From our side there was no failure. So it is a failure of the NIRF," Lohia told PTI in an interview yesterday.

"Perhaps they did not even consider giving us a score because they did not have anyone to compare with," she quipped.
While Presidency is not among the top 100 institutios in the country in this year's NIRF ranking, it had scored 63.56 out of 100 in last year's NIRF assessment and had been ranked 41st among universities.
Asked if Presidency becoming a university from college can be called upgradation, Lohia said, "We cannot upgrade Presidency College which had alreay been enjoying the top spot. It was converted into a University. In PHD research programmes it has been the topper."

Lohia said she was happy with the funds the university received from the West Bengal government on account of preserving the heritage.

"The state fully funded us, gave a huge grant. We did not have any grant from the Centre except some money from the UGC under the 12th Plan. But we are very contented," she said.
She said the university would be starting a second campus near the city early next year, while the third campus will come up in Kurseong in future.
"We are also starting new departments on performing arts in the undergraduate stream," she added.
"Apart from liberal arts subjects, deparments like Life Science, Physics, Chemistry, Geology are strong in Presidency and our researchers are doing lot of hard work," she said.

She appreciated the end of agitaion politics in the university, which had witnessed frequent gheraos and sloganeering by students even two years back and attributed it to the students' return to good sense.
"We explained to the students that they have to study here. They have to go to class, they have to register 75 per cent of attendance."
Taking note of the fact that the institution is a place of free expression and liberal thinking, she said, "People are encouraged to think for themselves. I have a very informal way of teaching and we maintain friendly atmosphere. We encourage free thinking.