Anna varsity rank list serves as tool to evaluate colleges

As Anna University has stopped publishing report cards of its affiliated colleges, the university’s rank list for 2010 has emerged as a tool to evaluate the colleges in specific subjects.

According to April/May 2010 rank list published by the Office of the Controller of Examinations, Anna University-Chennai, Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College has 9 rank holders out of the top 50 in B.E. Civil Engineering. Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering has 7 ranks in B.E. Computer Science Engineering and Kongu Engineering College, 7 ranks in B.E. Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Velammal Engineering College and St. Joseph’s College of Engineering have produced six rank holders in B.E. Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

In Electronics and Instrumentation, Velammal and St. Joseph’s have bagged 15 and 12 ranks in the first 50. Velammal College also performed well in B.E. Mechanical Engineering with 10 ranks, followed by Sri Sairam Engineering College and Mepco Schlenk Engineering College with half the number of ranks.

In B.Tech Biotechnology, St. Joseph’s College of Engineering is way ahead with 16 ranks. In B. Tech Information Technology, it is a mixed scenario with students from several colleges making it to the list. Panimalar Engineering College has bagged the first and third ranks the above subjects.

In M.B.A, Sri Sairam Engineering College has 13 ranks to its credit. In M.C.A, students from R.M.K Engineering College, St. Joseph’s Engineering College, Jaya Engineering College and Panimalar Engineering College have secured top ranks.

“Anna University has released only the list of rank holders. It is for people to infer from the rank list the strength of colleges in specific subjects,” says P. Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University. As Civil, Mechanical, EEE, ECE, CSE, and IT were offered in most colleges, it was for people to analyse, he added.

The university published college-wise, branch-wise and script-wise list last year for the benefit of students and parents to select courses based on the rankings but the Higher Education Ministry asked it not to publish the report cards as any ranking has to be based on student strength, faculty, infrastructure, research and alumni strength among many other parameters.

As the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has made online disclosure of all details, including faculty qualification and infrastructure facilities, of technical institutions mandatory, the student community should be able to know everything online before selecting courses and colleges from the next academic year, says Prof. Jawahar.