The National Education Policy being finalised by the central government needs to urgently incorporate pragmatic strategies for ranking the Indian universities and other degree-providing educational institutions in order to prepare them for a place in the top universities of the world, feels Prof PK Khosla, Founder and Vice Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh based Shoolini University, which has been able to stamp its place among the top research and innovation oriented private universities in the country.
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“China has shown the way by incorporating this as an integral part of its National Education policy and reaping rich dividends over the past few decades. And, fears that universities and institutions of higher learning from the land of the Dragon are set to capture a bulk of the worldwide top rankings in the near future are not exactly unfounded. It’s high time, India took some concerted action to capture lost ground,” Prof. Khosla, an internationally recognised genetics expert, shared with lifeinchandigarh.com after a media interaction to highlight the 10 years achievements of the university, incepted in 2009.
(From left to right) Mrs. Saroj Khosla, President, Foundation for Life Sciences & Business Management, Prof. PK Khosla, Founder & Vice Chancellor, Mrs. Nishtha Anand, Trustee of the Foundation, and Dr Saurabh Kulshreshtha, Dean, Research & Development.
Photos By : Life In Chandigarh
Pointing out that younger institutions – those established over the past decade or so – were in fact performing better in research output than the well established ones, he made out a case for funding of institutions on merit rather than on perceptions. “We are among the top six institutions in India in the sphere of citational research along with IITs Ropar, Indore and Hyderabad, Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) Pune and Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) Pune as these institutions meet the criteria for weighted citation index, which carries 30% marks in the benchmark Times Higher Education (THE) for global rankings,” he informed, and asserted that they deserve adequate funding and support from various funding agencies to excel further.
A handout shared with the media claimed that the Himachal Pradesh-based Shoolini University, which has one of the most scenic and eco friendly campuses, has been ranked in the top 15% of the 900-odd universities by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the last three consecutive years and is now making its presence felt on the world stage.
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A panoramic view of the sprawling Shoolini University campus in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh
As per independent and authentic international data released by Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature from scientific journals, books and conference proceedings, through SciVal, which offers quick and easy access to research performance of more than 14,000 research institutions and their associated researchers from more than 230 nations worldwide, Shoolini University has performed better than the global average of top 10 global universities on at least three parameters.
In percentage of International collaborations the university has received a score of 54.7 as against 19.3 given on an average to the top 10 Indian universities (as per NIRF 2019) and 50.3 on an average bagged by top 10 world universities (as per THE).
In percentage of papers published in the top 1% of the most cited publications worldwide, Shoolini University has got a score of 8, as against the National average of 1.1 and the worldwide average of 4.4 points.
Similarly, in percentage of papers published in the top 10% of the most cited publications worldwide, the Himachal Pradesh-based varsity has come out tops with 31.9 points against the National average of 11.6 and worldwide average of 27.2 points.
These brand building embellishments apart, the university still has long way to go to fulfil its Founder and Vice Chancellor Prof PK Khosla’s dream of seeing Shoolini University in the top 200 world rankings by the year 2022. “Because we are not a very big university and are very young, we are lagging behind on the parameter of perception, where the established institutions enjoy a huge advantage. We are working hard to reach out to all stakeholders to make some headway in this regard,” is how Prof Khosla sums up, exuding confidence that the university is on course to find its place in the Sun.
Among its other strengths, Shoolini University claims that it is already among the top five patent filers in the country, ahead of many reputed universities, and has achieved 100% placement in several disciplines. The average of annual packages offered to final year students by top Indian companies and multi-national corporations has been Rs 5-6 lakh and the highest package of Rs 15 lakh CTC has been bagged by Aashish Saini from an MNC, Hilti.
The university’s Management programme, which has been ranked 65th in the country as per NIRF rankings done by Union Human Resources Ministry, has recorded 100% placements while Pharmacy, ranked 39th in the country, can boast of a placement of 92% of final year students, as per university claims. Following are the placement figures provided by the university for some of its other academic programmes: M.Sc. (Chemistry) 100%, Computer Science & Engineering 100%, Bio Engineering 85%, B.Tech. (Mechanical) 88%, B.Tech (Electrical & Electronics) 75% and B.Tech. (Civil) 90%.
LifeInChandigarh.com wishes all the best to Shoolini University, one of the very few universities run by esteemed academicians with a worldview!
