This celebratory event was a sequel to the annual EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings 2018-19 league tables published in May in which 10,264 sample respondents ranked the country’s Top 100 private universities, private engineering institutes, B-schools and arts, science and commerce colleges – Dilip Thakore

The second EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings 2018-19 Awards Nite staged in Bangalore’s upscale Shangri-la Hotel on June 23, attracted a 150-strong collection of trustees, vice chancellors, directors and principals of the country’s top-ranked B-schools, private universities, private engineering institutes and arts, science and commerce colleges. This celebratory event was a sequel to the annual EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings (EWIHER) league tables published in May. 

Welcoming the august gathering of educationists, EW publisher/editor Dilip Thakore described the annual EWIHER as different from the rankings published by mainstream media publications such as India Today, business magazines and The Economic Times among others, inasmuch as EWIHER tend to focus on private higher education institutions which are “usually obscured in the league tables of other publications dominated by heavily subsidised government-promoted universities, colleges and institutions”. “Since they are heavily subsidised and levy rock-bottom tuition fees, the best government higher education institutions are ranked high in most media surveys. But even as they levy very modest tuition fees and therefore are the first preference of students, they demand sky-high scores in school-leaving exams, or conduct their own rigorous entrance exams designed to admit a minuscule percentage of aspirants. For the great majority who don’t make the cut for admission into top-ranked public higher education institutions, top-ranked private institutions are the next best choice. The annual EWIHER league tables provide excellent guidance on which parameters they excel,” said Thakore.

Among the vice chancellors, deans, and trustees who were conferred awards for the high rank awarded to their institutions in EWIHER 2018-19, were Dr. K.K. Mishra, assistant dean, Chitkara University, Punjab; Dr. Shirish Patil, vice chancellor, DY Patil University, Navi Mumbai; Dr. P. Hemalatha Reddy, principal, Venkateswara College, Delhi; Dr. Rajiv M. Borle, vice chancellor and chairperson, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha; Dr. Pranay Chaudhuri, principal of the Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, Dr. V.V. Kulkarni, director, Sanjay Ghodawat Group of Institutions, Kolhapur; Vishal Jain, executive director, Vidya Knowledge Park, Meerut; Dr. Sudha Vyas, principal, K. J. Somaiya College of Arts & Commerce, Mumbai; Abhishek Mohan Gupta, pro chancellor Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal; Dr. Narayana Sabhahit, registrar Manipal Academy of Higher Education; Col. Shashi Kohli, director of Amity Global Business School, Bangalore; Sri. H. N. Suresh, director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore; Sanjay Padode, director of the IFIM Business School, Bangalore and Sr. Arpana, principal of Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, among others.

Unlike last year when there was one keynote address (T.V. Mohandas Pai) followed by a panel discussion, this year a stellar cast of five knowledgeable educationists — Atul Khosla, vice chancellor, Shoolini Unviersity, Solan, Himachal Pradesh; Suchindra Kumar, director (education), Ernst & Young, Delhi; Prof. B.S. Satyanarayana, vice chancellor, BML Munjal University, Gurgaon, (Haryana), Prof. G. Raghuram, director of IIM-Bangalore, and Nitin Pai, co-founder of the Takshashila Foundation, Bangalore, delivered abbreviated keynote addresses on a wide range of subjects of relevance to Indian education (see essays p. 62-70). 

The keynotes were followed by a 60-minute panel discussion chaired by Dilip Thakore on the subject ‘How India’s best can catch up with the rest,’ in which the keynote speakers suggested and debated ways and means to close the quality gap between Indian and universities of the Western world. 

The lively panel discussion was succeeded by the institutional awards ceremony during which 100 certificates and trophies were awarded to representatives of the top-ranked higher ed instutions, with the celebration ceremony interspersed by corporate presentations made by event partners MeritTrack, Mindler Education Pvt. Ltd, ValeurHR, Singapore and Reliance Jio. 

The general sentiment among the 150-plus well-informed and knowledgeable delegates who attended the seminar-cum-awards distribution event was that it struck a fine balance between celebration and intellectual stimulus. “The EW rankings published in your May issue and the awards celebration were smoothly integrated. I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the EducationWorld ratings and rankings of the Top 100 arts, science and commerce colleges which are in sync with informed opinion, as also the awards nite. The choice of keynote speakers was excellent and they delivered high-quality, thought-provoking keynotes. In short, I am glad I accepted your invitation to attend the event,” says Dr. Hemalatha Reddy, principal of the Top 10-ranked Venkateswara College, Delhi. 

 Nirmal Bhardwaj, a former senior Tata Group executive, former CEO of the Churchgate Group, London, and currently promoter-CEO of the Bangalore-based AcaEx Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, is also pleased that he spared time to attend the function. “The well-managed event provided an excellent forum for vice chancellors and senior faculty from public and private universities to network and discuss ways and means to take higher education in India to the next level. The keynote speakers and their addresses were also excellent,” says Bhardwaj. he second EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings 2018-19 Awards Nite staged in Bangalore’s upscale Shangri-la Hotel on June 23, attracted a 150-strong collection of trustees, vice chancellors, directors and principals of the country’s top-ranked B-schools, private universities, private engineering institutes and arts, science and commerce colleges. This celebratory event was a sequel to the annual EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings (EWIHER) league tables published in May. 

Welcoming the august gathering of educationists, EW publisher/editor Dilip Thakore described the annual EWIHER as different from the rankings published by mainstream media publications such as India Today, business magazines and The Economic Times among others, inasmuch as EWIHER tend to focus on private higher education institutions which are “usually obscured in the league tables of other publications dominated by heavily subsidised government-promoted universities, colleges and institutions”. “Since they are heavily subsidised and levy rock-bottom tuition fees, the best government higher education institutions are ranked high in most media surveys. But even as they levy very modest tuition fees and therefore are the first preference of students, they demand sky-high scores in school-leaving exams, or conduct their own rigorous entrance exams designed to admit a minuscule percentage of aspirants. For the great majority who don’t make the cut for admission into top-ranked public higher education institutions, top-ranked private institutions are the next best choice. The annual EWIHER league tables provide excellent guidance on which parameters they excel,” said Thakore.

Among the vice chancellors, deans, and trustees who were conferred awards for the high rank awarded to their institutions in EWIHER 2018-19, were Dr. K.K. Mishra, assistant dean, Chitkara University, Punjab; Dr. Shirish Patil, vice chancellor, DY Patil University, Navi Mumbai; Dr. P. Hemalatha Reddy, principal, Venkateswara College, Delhi; Dr. Rajiv M. Borle, vice chancellor and chairperson, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha; Dr. Pranay Chaudhuri, principal of the Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, Dr. V.V. Kulkarni, director, Sanjay Ghodawat Group of Institutions, Kolhapur; Vishal Jain, executive director, Vidya Knowledge Park, Meerut; Dr. Sudha Vyas, principal, K. J. Somaiya College of Arts & Commerce, Mumbai; Abhishek Mohan Gupta, pro chancellor Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal; Dr. Narayana Sabhahit, registrar Manipal Academy of Higher Education; Col. Shashi Kohli, director of Amity Global Business School, Bangalore; Sri. H. N. Suresh, director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore; Sanjay Padode, director of the IFIM Business School, Bangalore and Sr. Arpana, principal of Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, among others.

Unlike last year when there was one keynote address (T.V. Mohandas Pai) followed by a panel discussion, this year a stellar cast of five knowledgeable educationists — Atul Khosla, vice chancellor, Shoolini Unviersity, Solan, Himachal Pradesh; Suchindra Kumar, director (education), Ernst & Young, Delhi; Prof. B.S. Satyanarayana, vice chancellor, BML Munjal University, Gurgaon, (Haryana), Prof. G. Raghuram, director of IIM-Bangalore, and Nitin Pai, co-founder of the Takshashila Foundation, Bangalore, delivered abbreviated keynote addresses on a wide range of subjects of relevance to Indian education (see essays p. 62-70). 

The keynotes were followed by a 60-minute panel discussion chaired by Dilip Thakore on the subject ‘How India’s best can catch up with the rest,’ in which the keynote speakers suggested and debated ways and means to close the quality gap between Indian and universities of the Western world. 

The lively panel discussion was succeeded by the institutional awards ceremony during which 100 certificates and trophies were awarded to representatives of the top-ranked higher ed instutions, with the celebration ceremony interspersed by corporate presentations made by event partners MeritTrack, Mindler Education Pvt. Ltd, ValeurHR, Singapore and Reliance Jio. 

The general sentiment among the 150-plus well-informed and knowledgeable delegates who attended the seminar-cum-awards distribution event was that it struck a fine balance between celebration and intellectual stimulus. “The EW rankings published in your May issue and the awards celebration were smoothly integrated. I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the EducationWorld ratings and rankings of the Top 100 arts, science and commerce colleges which are in sync with informed opinion, as also the awards nite. The choice of keynote speakers was excellent and they delivered high-quality, thought-provoking keynotes. In short, I am glad I accepted your invitation to attend the event,” says Dr. Hemalatha Reddy, principal of the Top 10-ranked Venkateswara College, Delhi. 

Nirmal Bhardwaj, a former senior Tata Group executive, former CEO of the Churchgate Group, London, and currently promoter-CEO of the Bangalore-based AcaEx Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, is also pleased that he spared time to attend the function. “The well-managed event provided an excellent forum for vice chancellors and senior faculty from public and private universities to network and discuss ways and means to take higher education in India to the next level. The keynote speakers and their addresses were also excellent,” says Bhardwaj.