College rankings are a good way to judge the performance of a college. But what actually is the term “College Rankings” , College Rankings are those rankings of institutions in higher education which have been ranked on the basis of various combinations of various factors. According to the sources, Rankings are often conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, governments or academics. But none of these rankings give a comprehensive overview of the strengths of the institutions ranked because all select a range of easily quantifiable traits to base their results on. Rankings mostly consider various combinations of measures which includes funding and endowment, admission, student’s options, specialisations expertise, award numbers, internationalization, graduate employment , historical reputation, industrial linkage and much more. UNESCO has questioned whether rankings “do more harm than good” , while acknowledging that “Rightly or wrongly, they are perceived as measures of quality and so create intense competition between universities and colleges all over the world”. This article may provide to the importance of college rankings and how much these rankings matter while selecting a college.
There are hundreds and thousands of colleges in India, with so many options which includes central universities, state universities and colleges, private universities and a myriad of institutes, choosing a college to attend becomes a major and a vital decision.
Not To Rely On College Rankings Alone While Selecting A College
Ranking a college is a mix of subjective and objective analysis of the college. While before selecting a college, some of the important aspects that play a part are pass-out percentage, placement rates, student-teacher ratio having quantifiable numbers, the overall worth of the college involves much more which includes various factors that determines how selecting this college would help a student grow and how dedicatedly the students are being prepared to outshine in this huge competitive dominant age. Rankings are meant to be applicable to the majority while they may be effective in identifying past trends with no such guarantee that they can even accurately predict future trends. For example, if an educational institute was established in Indore in 2009, but according to the Higher Education World Universities Rankings this Institute ranked 3rd for the best Universities in India in 2019. In many cases, Rankings are often prone to fluctuation, and are often influenced by superficial issues like building infrastructure or library size.
Let us discuss some of these factors which influence a student before selecting a college based on its ranking:
While college rankings can give you an overview of the ‘best colleges’, it is necessary for students to do their own research as well before they finalise their choice of college.
· Accreditation or Authorization
While selecting a college, it is important that the college must be recognised and accredited to offer the course to its students. This goes for every institute, for private colleges and up-coming institutes which may not always have their courses officially recognized. Pursuing a course without recognition can harm a student’s career so it’s always better to be wise at the time of admissions.
· Viewing Of Its Academic Environment
To view the academic environment of a college before admission, student’s can take help of the internet that would provide helpful information regarding the college, can be the course details, faculty, qualifications laid down and much more.
· Opinions And Reviews By Former Students
To gain an insight about the college, it would be wise to welcome and know the opinions/ reviews shared by the former and the current students. Keeping touch with the Alumni of the college is a good option especially with those who have passed out, they would provide a brief whether pursuing that specific course form the college would be helpful and how have they progressed in their respective careers.
· Infrastructure Of The College
It is important to know about the sufficient infrastructure for classrooms , libraries, labs and other facilities of the college as a substandard quality of infrastructure might affect the student’s studies even if they realise it or not. Considering the locality of the college, along with its accessibility and also availability of safety food joints in and around is also an important factor while selecting a college.
· Extra Curricular Activities
Apart from studies, some extracurricular activities like sports, clubs, and fests all form an important part of the overall college experience. To develop a well-rounded personality, it is vital to engage in these extracurricular activities that suit one’s tastes or preferences. One needs to check whether these activities are offered by that college or not and if yes how well are they promoted in the college environment.
· Placements Offered By The College
The goal of going to college is to prepare one step ahead in shaping one’s career. Most of the colleges publish their placement records on their official site. One must check about the information provided to get an idea of the companies visiting the campuses providing for such opportunities to the students.
In a way, College rankings are a good way in judging colleges which may seem appealing to easily identify the “best colleges”. By spending time and thorough research and checking on the respective colleges of one’s choice , it would be helpful to shape one’s career and reach their goals.
By Tunisha Banerjee
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