Special Correspondent
Mumbai: With the performance of Maharashtra’s universities slipping in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), the state government has launched a major plan to revive the academic standing of higher education institutions. The Higher and Technical Education Department is preparing a dedicated State Institutional Ranking Framework, or SIRF, which will create a Maharashtra specific rating system for universities and colleges.
A new website will be developed for SIRF. The portal will track institutional progress, highlight strengths and weaknesses, and push universities to improve their national and global presence.
The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil. Senior officials including Additional Chief Secretary B. Venu Gopal Reddy, Higher Education Director Dr Shailendra Deolankar, Deputy Secretaries Ashok Mande and Pratap Lubal, Joint Secretary Santosh Khorgade, and vice chancellors from major universities attended the session.
Present were Mumbai University’s Vice Chancellor Dr Ravindra Kulkarni, Dr Vijay Fulari of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Dr V. L. Maheshwari of North Maharashtra University, and ICT Mumbai’s Dr Aniruddha Pandit.
The meeting discussed targeted strategies to help state universities climb both national and international rankings. Patil issued clear instructions on priority areas. Strengthen research output and publish in high impact journals. Enhance student intake and academic diversity. Improve teaching quality and curriculum standards. Upgrade laboratories, libraries and digital infrastructure. Achieve higher NAAC accreditation scores through immediate corrective steps. Encourage international collaborations and globally recognised research papers
Officials said that SIRF will act as a performance scoreboard, creating healthy competition among universities and motivating them to modernise.
The government aims to ensure that more Maharashtra institutions appear in global ranking lists in the coming years. The new framework is expected to guide universities on global benchmarks and create accountability at every level.
With SIRF, the state hopes to reverse the declining trend seen in recent NIRF cycles and position Maharashtra as a national leader in higher education innovation.
