Former Vice-Chancellor of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University Dr S P Kane had said that he would strive to bring the University among the top 50. Neither Dr Kane nor his successor Dr Subhash Chaudhari could prevent the slide of the university, which has stood at 196th rank among the 200 universities evaluated by the National Institutional Ranking Framework.
RTMNU has earned the dubious distinction of going down in rankings continuously. The university benefited as it has the Laxmianarayan Institute of Technology and a few post-graduate departments like the Department of Physics, the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, etc.
The University is celebrating its centennial year. Various programmes are being held by the University officials. However, most of them are cultural and not aimed at the academic development of the university, teachers, or students.
Prominent institutions also failed to improve their rankings. These include VNIT, YCCE, G H Raisoni College of Engineering, RCEM etc.
RTMNU is being continuously criticized for mismanagement and decisions without a proper understanding of the existing rules, statutes, and directives.
Former Vice-Chancellor Dr P L Bhandarkar several years ago said that the University has become a ‘Den of Politicians’, which appears to be true looking at the manner in which nominations on various bodies are done.
Forget about the development of the students as responsible citizens, the university has become an examination-conducting body. Even after shrinking its responsibilities, the exams are not conducted in time and the announcement of results is further delayed. A large number of mistakes appear in the question papers and the results.
This is an alarming situation for the University. One cannot be happy over the historical events. The past may be perfect the present is tense for the university.