The Sheri Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST)- Kashmir has secured 12th position in the all India ranking of Agricultural universities and agricultural research institutes.
The university has got the 9th rank in the university category alone.
SKUAST-Jammu has figured at 37th position in the ranking of agricultural universities and institutes.
The ranking was conducted for the year 2019 for more than 70 agricultural Universities and Institutes of India by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Around 67 agricultural universities and research institutes had participated in the ICAR rankings.
The SKUAST-Kashmir has improved its performance over the past three years in ICAR and has shifted from 27th position in 2017 to 12th position this year.
“Our university got 13th position in 2018 and this year we have again improved our performance and secured 12th position,” said Dr Maqsud Ul Haq Wani registrar SKUAST-K, adding that the rank of SKUAST-K is 9th in the category of agricultural universities.
He however attributed the achievement of the University to the hard work of junior and senior scientists of the university.
“Our junior and senior scientists really worked hard to get this ranking on merit. Though there were some changes in the nomenclature of the rankings but we still have performed better and are hopeful to improve our position next year,” he said.
Registrar SKUAST-K said earlier the ranking was done on basis of paper publication and research.
“This year our performance on scopus indexed Journals was also a criteria for our ranking. The Scopus indexed Journals, are ranked by the international organizations and we got 11th rank in it which helped us to improve our overall ranking,” he said.
He said the University has also signed MoUs with international as well as Indian organisations and received a major project worth Rs 30 crore as well.
“During the COVID19 pandemic, we managed to continue with offline as well as online classes,” Dr Maqsud Ul Haq Wani said.
He said the university has maintained a good reputation in receiving admission applications from foreign and Indian scientists.
“We have really worked hard and struggled to get this ranking on merits,” he said.
Meanwhile, the SKUAST-K scientists and teachers association has congratulated the scientist fraternity and the supporting staff for achieving the feat in the all India ranking issued by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.
The, spokesperson of the association, Dr Parvaiz Ahmed Reshi said that the milestone achieved by putting in hard efforts by the scientist fraternity and the supporting staff of SKUAST-K.
“Scientists posted in different subject matter faculties, research stations and KVKs across Kashmir and Ladakh division have been toiling hard to grow SKUAST-K and deserve appreciation for achieving the feat,” he said.
He said it was a collective effort of scientists, supporting staff and the administration and needs to be taken to next level.