April 5 2016, 12.52 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Mumbai, April 5th, 2016: Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal (MCOPS) was ranked top pharmacy college in the country by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released by Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Monday at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. This first-of-its-kind indigenous ranking framework for higher education institutions has ranked institutes in Engineering, Management and Pharmacy.
Dr Mallikarjuna Rao, Principal of the College said “It is a dream come true for us and a befitting reward for 53 years of hard work”. He said that it was because of the hard work done by his predecessors and credited the immediate past principal, Dr N Udupa for his contribution. “The quantum of research done during the 16 years he was the principal is worthy of praise, “Dr Rao said.
Talking about the research work, Dr Rao said MCOPS id number one base on Scopus output. “Our ‘h’ index is 46 and our average citation per paper is 10.7. The total citations as on date is 11, 707 and the total publication 1089 till today. “Interestingly, these figures are far better than that in the rest of the country,” he says. The national average is 7, and the national average for China is 7.44. For US it is 23.36. “That means Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences has an average which is higher than that of the country and even China,” Dr Rao added.
Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal first, University institute of pharmaceutical sciences –Chandigarh second and Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi third. All 122 centrally-funded institutions — including all central universities, IITs and IIMs — participated in the first round of ranking. The framework is primarily divided into two categories: Category ‘A’ covered institutions with academic autonomy and a greater focus on research and category ‘B’ comprised colleges and centres affiliated to a university and more focused on teaching. An institution can volunteer to be ranked in both categories. The new ranking framework has been drafted to provide an Indian context to educational aspirations and needs.
As per the NIRF, ten best institutions have been named in each stream and Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal was declared the best in Pharmacy. “There are over a thousand pharmacy colleges in the country and to be chosen as the finest is a great honour indeed,” said Manipal University, Manipal Vice Chancellor, Dr H Vinod Bhat. “I am delighted to know that Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences has been ranked the best in the country. My heartiest congratulations to the entire MCOPS team for this impressive performance. This is only the beginning of the journey and I expect MCOPS to be rated among the best in the world in the next five years”.
“Our emphasis has always been on research and more so recently. Our Pharmacy College is one of the best research centres in the University and I am proud of the work they are doing. I am sure they will continue to do better. This ranking by the HRD Ministry means a lot, and will definitely act as a catalyst for faculty and students to do better to scale greater heights,” Dr Bhat said”.
About Manipal University:
http://manipal.edu/mu.html
Manipal University is synonymous with excellence in higher education. Over 28,000 students from 57 different nations live, learn and play in the sprawling University town, nestled on a plateau in Karnataka’s Udupi district. It also has nearly 2500 faculty and almost 10000 other support and service staff, who cater to the various professional institutions in health sciences, engineering, management, communication and humanities which dot the Wi-Fi-enabled campus.
The University has off-campuses in Mangalore and Bangalore, and off-shore campuses in Dubai (UAE) and Melaka (Malaysia). The Mangalore campus offers medical, dental, and nursing programs. The Bangalore Campus offers programs in Regenerative Medicine. The Dubai campus offers programs in engineering, management and architecture, and the Melaka campus offers programs in medicine and dentistry. Every institute has world class facilities and pedagogy, which are constantly reviewed and upgraded to reflect the latest trends and developments in higher education.
In Manipal, these include educational facilities like the Simulation Lab with computer driven Manikins, an Innovation Centre, one of Asia’s largest health sciences libraries, one of the world’s best anatomy museums, a business incubation centre and various other centers of excellence. Academic collaborations and twinning programs with several universities in the US, UK, Australia and other countries ensure that students get international exposure and expertise.
The MARENA, a massive indoor sports complex with five badminton courts, four squash courts, three tennis courts, a basketball court, a hi-tech gym and a walking track, reflects the university’s belief that a healthy mind needs a healthy body. Part of the Manipal Group, the University is ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001: 2004 certified, and has won the prestigious IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award and the International Asia Pacific Quality Award in 2007- 2008.
The Manipal Group, a pioneer in higher education services with a 60-year-old legacy of excellence, also owns and operates campuses in Sikkim and Jaipur in India, and in Nepal, Malaysia, and Antigua, in the Caribbean.