Placement, infrastructure or research: Why IIT Delhi is behind IIT Madras

The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi maintained its second position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024, while IIT Madras once again secured first place in the engineering category.

| Updated: 14 August, 2024 5:00 pm IST

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi maintained its second position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024, while IIT Madras once again secured first place in the engineering category.

The metrics of NIRF include teaching, learning & resources, research and professional practice, graduation outcomes, outreach & inclusivity, and perception. However, The New Indian visited the IIT Delhi campus and spoke to students about their opinions.

IIT Delhi student: World-class teachers & old reputation of IIT Delhi is the reason

When The New Indian asked students about the reason behind IIT Delhi’s second-ranking in NIRF, a PhD student, Maherukh, said, “World-class teachers and the old reputation of IIT Delhi are the reasons behind the NIRF ranking. The placements are good here, but I think the infrastructure needs some renovation because it is an old institute.”

Continuing the discussion on placements, another student said, “The primary factor behind the NIRF overall ranking is the focus on research. The batch capacity this year has also increased. However, we are lagging in terms of infrastructure and placement.”

IIT Delhi student: Research need some improvement

In the research category, IIT Delhi managed to secure third place, after IISc Bengaluru and IIT Madras, which took first and second place, respectively. Reacting to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s comment that even IIT students’ research is not up to the mark and that they need practical skills and knowledge, a student, Uday Jain, said, “Current NIRF rankings are based on previous research. Now, yes, it needs some improvement.”

IIT Delhi student: Research is the strength

In the management category, IIT Delhi got fourth place. The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) leads this category. A student from the Department of Management Studies (DMS) at IIT Delhi, Arun Singh Rana, said, “They are trying to achieve third place, so they are trying to find the loopholes and work on them. They are heavily investing in infrastructure in DMS, and they are also trying to increase their strength.”

In the engineering category, other IITs, including those in Kanpur, Kharagpur, and Roorkee, dominate the top ten, with NIT Tiruchirappalli being the only non-IIT institution on the list.

IIT Madras has also clinched the number one spot in the overall ranking category, followed by IISc Bengaluru and IIT Bombay.