New Delhi: Former President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, launched the QS I-Gauge, India’s first nationwide higher education rating system for Indian universities and colleges.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pranab Mukherjee emphasized the importance of globally-benchmarked quality assurance systems. Referring to the importance of rankings, he said, “It does not create excellence but it recognizes, identifies, and introduces the existing talent to the world and to the larger society, and that brings huge consequential benefits. But you shall have to keep in mind that quality is of primary importance in education.”
Reiterating the importance of rankings and ratings, Shri Mukherjee said, “Many of our institutions have these talents but sometimes they do not adopt the system though they are aware of it’s importance. It does not add to their capacities or excellence but it helps them to have connections outside. We are living in a globalized world. We cannot live in isolation and we must prepare ourselves to be communicative to the globalised world,” he further emphasised.
Recognizing the commitment to academic excellence, O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) was awarded the Diamond Rating by QS I-Gauge at that event. The announcement was made in the presence of Shri Pranab Mukherjee and Dr. Virander Chauhan, Chairman, National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) on 21st March. In 2017, JGU was ranked among the Top 10 Private Institutions in India by QS BRICS University Rankings and Top 300 in the BRICS countries.
Referring to the milestones that JGU covered, the Founding Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr) C Raj Kumar said, “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate each and every member of the JGU family for being awarded with not one but two laurels on the same day. The autonomous status by the UGC and QS Diamond Rating are remarkable milestones, which will expedite our endeavour to underline India’s exemplary contribution to the global higher education and nurturing the leaders of tomorrow. Receiving the recognition from the Former President of India was indeed a matter of great honour for us.”
Explaining the practices of the QS I-Gauge ranking system, Mr Ben Sowter, Director, QS Ltd., UK said, “We believe we will be able to surface the excellence that is developing in India in a much broader variety in ways than any existing exercise captures. We hope it will also empower colleges and universities here in India to develop more robust data collection and reporting capabilities that may go well beyond the QS I-Gauge context and help them diagnose their performance and improve in a variety of different ways.”
Consisting of seven primary categories and five secondary categories, ranging from Teaching and Learning, Employability and Social Responsibility to Research and Innovation, the QS I-GAUGE rating provides a unique 360-degree perspective of Indian institutions of higher learning.
Each rating produced by QS I-GAUGE is strictly monitored and supervised by the QS Intelligence Unit in London. This is the same team that produces the authoritative rankings as well as the globally recognized QS Stars university ratings system. The rigor and integrity of QS ratings are guided by an International Advisory Board, which comprises of luminaries in the higher education field – from both India and overseas.
Many distinguished academics attend the launch of QS I-Gauge event.
