University of Hyderabad blames CUET, gaps in research, diversity for drop in NIRF ranking

NEW DELHI: The University of Hyderabad, a central university and Institution of Eminence (IoE), has seen a massive drop in its NIRF rank. Since the inception of the National Institutional and Ranking Framework (NIRF), UoH has been in the top 10 in the university category. In 2024, it plummeted to the 17th spot. Among other factors, the university blames the new admission system through the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for this drop.

In response to queries from Careers360, the university listed six broad reasons for its decline in the NIRF ranking 2024. The first listed is the gap between approved intake and actual enrolment, which has emerged following the introduction of the centralised CUET exam in 2022. Hyderabad University has also kept the intake same in courses for which demand has declined.

Others include the number of PhD awardees not matching with enrolments; slow pace of research publications and IPR filing; and finally, UoH’s inability to find funds to allow full fee waivers to students from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds has fetched it a zero out of 20 on support for socially and economically-disadvantaged students.

UoH NIRF ranking over the years

The University of Hyderabad – also known as the Hyderabad Central University or HCU – remained in the top 20 in the overall category of NIRF for years but slipped below 20 for the first time in NIRF 2024. Among universities, it has dropped 12 places, from top five to 17, with the steepest decline this year, as the table below shows.

University of Hyderabad on NIRF

UoH in NIRF: Changing scores

The UoH, which is almost 50 years old, was established in 1974 and it was given the IoE tag in 2019 by the ministry of education.

A closer look at its scores on the parameters shows that on student strength, its score fell from 12.96 out of 20 to 14.08 in 2023. The student strength is a subcategory of the “Teaching Learning Resources (TLR)” parameter. On the parameter of faculty resource utilisation (FRU), its 2024 score is 9.34 out of 20. In 2023, it was 9.82.

Although on the “online education/multiple entry exit/Indian knowledge system and regional languages”, UoH’s score is an increase to 6.50 out of 15, it is still on the lower end. In 2023 it was 2.50.

Hyderabad University: Reasons for decline

Identifying the reasons for decline, the university stated that there has been a gap between approved intake and actual enrolment.

“There are two reasons for this increasing gap. First, with the introduction of CUET, the number of options for students has increased. It has increased the chances of students enrolling in a course and then moving to their preferred university at a later date, depending on their position on the waiting list. If students move towards the end of the cycle, it leaves no time for the UoH to fill vacant seats. Consequently, seats still need to be filled in particular courses,” said a university official.

The second reason is that the university “inadvertently” kept intake figures constant in many courses, where enrollment has fallen over the years all over India. There has been no reduction in seats despite them going vacant.

“These two reasons have led to a gap between approved intake and actual enrollment. This gap has an impact on the metrics used by NIRF,” explained the official.

Also read NIRF 2024: IIT's wrote 24% of all research publications, over 55% MBA institutes had none

UoH: Research and professional practices

On publications number, University of Hyderabad has scored 18.68 in 2024, down from 20.38 in 2023. The marks are out of 30. Similarly, on citations, the score stands at 17.39 as against 20.53 in 2023.

However, when it comes to patents, their 2024 score is 2.50 as compared to 2.25 in 2023 out of the total marks of 15. Though the score for research projects has seen an increase to 1.38 from 1.24 in 2024, it is still low.

The university said that the number of PhDs awarded has not kept pace with enrolments in the programme due to delay in thesis submission by students. The university stated that the PhD submission and awards need to be increased.

“The continuous extensions the UGC allows due to COVID-19-related issues are blocking seats and not helping improve rankings. Students must be incentivized to submit within the stipulated time,” said the official. The University Grants Commission allowed extensions on research submission deadlines in response to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

On increasing the number of publications, it stressed on the need to provide a discipline-wise classification of quality of journals. “Faculty are publishing in reputed peer-reviewed indexed journals. However, the publications in journals ranked higher in different subject categories have not increased adequately. This is more glaring in non-STEM areas,” said the official.

A paper published in the Current Science Journal highlighting inconsistencies with NIRF points to overemphasis on bibliometrics, while neglecting other forms of research output and interventions. As per another analysis, this has affected rankings of B-schools as well.

UoH also highlights the need for increased research funding. “The faculty members are filing patents and other instruments of IPR, to meet NIRF requirements, the phase at which IPR protection needs to be enhanced along with increased research funding and consultancy from diverse sources including public and private,” added the official.

Losing out on outreach, diversity

In the regional diversity area, UoH’s score has fallen from 18.71 to 15.93. On gender diversity, it has seen a relatively smaller drop – from 27.87 in 2023 to 26.33 this year.

On supporting the economically and socially-challenged students the university lags behind, scoring zero out of 20. The university has not been able to change the scores.

“The university has not been able to create high enough corpus funds to provide full tuition fee reimbursement to socially-disadvantaged students. But this step also requires the government of India's consent,” said the official.

On diversity, the university said that Telangana state merit students have higher preference in choosing university but acknowledged the need to attract students from other states and abroad.

Even on perception, the university's score has fallen to 41.92 from 42.78, out of the total 100.