Strategic plan helps IIT-M to win hatrick as best engineering college

The institute also retained its second position in the overall category as the second best institution in the country

The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) may have to thank its own visionary Governing Board and the practice of religiously following its goals towards Strategic Plan 2020, patiently ticking every columns it needs to, as it has been ranked as the best engineering college in the country for the third consecutive year by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The institute also retained its second position in the overall category as the second best institution in the country, next only to Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore.

The ranking, out of the total 906 entries in the engineering category, is with a score of 88.95, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay is in the second rank with a score of 84.82 and Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi in the third position with a score of 82.18.

"They (NIRF) are measuring the same parameters which we follow in our strategic plan, regarding teaching, learning, in terms of our faculty strength, graduation outcomes, placement, research publication citations, funded projects, consultancy projects etc. We are having our own Strategic Plan for 2020, every year our board monitors it. With the growth rate, we are maintaining our position. There is no magic to it, and in fact everybody is growing," said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras.

Every year there is a target in hiring faculty, graduate outcomes, funded projects, placement performance among others, which are monitored. The institute makes sure that it is improving in these parameters and this makes its chances of maintaining the position in the ranking higher.

"Still, if somebody improves more than us, they will beat us," he said.

The current Strategic Plan of IIT-M, for the year 2014-20, was implemented from the year Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, took over as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the institution.

"The vision for IIT Madras laid out by Strategic Plan 2014–2020 is to be in the top 50 in all disciplines, by being a global leader in research and education, which will benefit society around us and the environment. The key pillars that will help IIT Madras achieve this vision are course programmes, research, engagement with industry, internationalisation and entrepreneurial activity," said Goenka during the time. (more)