Pvt varsities cleaner than govt institutions

Private universities and colleges have fared better than government institutions in keeping their campuses clean, the first-ever study on cleanliness in the higher educational institutions has found.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar released the findings of the Swachhta Ranking of the Higher Educational Institutions-2017, in which nearly 3,500 public and private higher educational organisations have participated.

OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, secured the top position, while Manipal University’s Gujarat campus was placed second in the survey.

The study categorised campuses into universities, colleges, technical institutions and government institutions.

“There is nothing to hide. This is the condition of government institutions,” Javadekar told an event organised to release the rankings.

“Since they could not figure in the list of top 50, we had to create a category for the government institutions to rank them separately,” he said.

Karnataka’s KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, Belagavi, came third in the university category, while Himachal Pradesh’s Chitkara University Solan was ranked fourth. Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra bagged the fifth position.

Javadekar said university and college authorities must learn to manage solid waste in a sustainable manner and find ways to generate power with the biomass produced on
campus.

Higher educational institutions must also help villages and semi-urban settlements in waste management and power generation with biomass, the minister said.

“Save energy, save electricity, manage waste and become a smart campus,” he said, adding that these three components would be made part of the ranking framework of higher institutions from next year.

About 11 institutions from Karnataka secured the top five positions in the college, technical and government institution categories.

GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) was ranked first under the government institutions, while Madurai Kamaraj University and Alagappa University, Karaikudi, (Tamil Nadu) came second and third, respectively.

The National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, (Himachal Pradesh) secured the fourth position in the category, while IIT-Guwahati was ranked fifth.