Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) has made it to the top ten list of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020. An official statement released by Jamia states, “JMI has been ranked at the 10th position in the country in universities category, improving its position from 12 last year.”
It further states: “In ‘overall category’, the university has been placed at 16th position, enhancing its ranking from 19th last year. IITs, IIMs, IISc, other top technical institutions and universities are included in the overall category.”
Approved by MHRD, the ranking report is separated into 10 categories and has a participation of 3,771 institutions. NIRF Ranking is broadly based on five parameters: “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception.”
“The achievement is all the more significant because of the challenging time the university has faced recently and also in the light of increased competition in the ranking,” says Jamia Vice-Chancellor professor Najma Akhtar.
Akhtar attributed the ranking to an improved perception about the university with regard to its teaching, placements and research. She also hoped the university would do even better in the coming years.
JMI has scored higher than DU in overall ranking of universities, graduate outcomes, outreach and inclusivity and teaching, learning and resources.
The Faculty of Law at JMI has been ranked at 9th position among Law colleges and the Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics is ranked at 10th position in Architecture. The Faculty of Dentistry (19th), the Faculty of Engineering & Technology (28th) and the Faculty of Management (34th) have also featured among the top 40 positions in the NIRF Ranking for the respective categories.
“Since the last 10-15 years, Jamia is focusing on research and development. Some of the centres are especially designed for the purpose of research; some for inter-disciplinary research and many similar inter-disciplinary science centres have been developed by the university…. So, the factor that puts a university on top of the ranking is primarily its research, as well as experience of the teachers, the quality of the students and the kind of job they are able to secure. All these factors in Jamia is excellent,” says Dr. Abrar Ahmad, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering.
The story of its growth from a small institution in the pre-Independence India to a central university offering integrated education from nursery to research in specialised areas – is a saga of dedication, conviction and vision of a people who worked against all odds and saw it growing step by step. The prominent members of this movement were Maulana Mehmud Hasan, Maulana Mohamed Ali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, and Abdul Majid Khwaja. In the words of Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India, “They built up the Jamia Millia stone by stone and sacrifice by sacrifice.”
Jamia is a confluence of two movements, it’s not a simple academic university rather it’s an outcome of movements – Khilafat movement and anti-colonial non-cooperation movement against the Britons. JMI has been intimately involved with the nature and reason of its birth – which is rising to the occasions, both academic and social.