Top Medical Colleges in India Excel in Teaching but Lag in Research, Analysis of NIRF 2024 rankings reveal

New Delhi: Even though the top medical colleges across the country excel in teaching and outcomes, they fall short in terms of research, revealed a study that analyzed the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024 Rankings.

The study titled "Strengths and Weaknesses of Top Indian Medical Colleges across Key Domains: Analysis of National Institutional Ranking Framework 2024 Rankings" was conducted by a group of faculties across the medical colleges in India and has been published in the Indian Journal of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery.

While conducting the cross-sectional study, the doctors utilized data from the NIRF 2024 rankings of the medical colleges and analyzed it to pinpoint areas of excellence and deficiency in these institutions.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was launched in November 2015 by the Ministry of Education. Five broad categories of parameters identified in the NIRF are- (i) teaching, learning & resources, (ii) research and professional practice, (iii) graduation outcome, (iv) outreach and inclusivity, and (v) perception. 

Each of these five parameters has 2 to 5 sub-parameters. A total number of 18 parameters are used for ranking of HEIs in different categories and subject domains. Institutions are ranked based on the total sum of marks assigned for each of these five broad groups of parameters.

Also Read: List of top 10 medical colleges in India as per NIRF Rankings

As per the NIRF 2024 rankings, the list of top 10 medical colleges (based on their ranks) includes- 1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi, 2. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, 3. Christian Medical College, 4. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore. 5. Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, 6. Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, 7. Banaras Hindu University, 8. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, 9. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, and 10. Madras Medical College and Government General Hospital, Chennai.

The researchers utilized the data from the top 50 medical colleges, available in the public domain, and calculated their overall score of teaching, learning, and resource (TLR), research and professional practice (RP), graduation outcome (GO), outreach and inclusivity, and perception (PR). They also calculated the correlation coefficients to explore the relationship between overall rankings and individual domain scores.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that the highest score was for teaching, learning, and resource (TLR) and a similar score was for graduation outcome (GO). On the other hand, the lowest score was for perception (PR) and research and professional practice (RP). There was a positive correlation between the rank and all domain scores. The highest level of correlation was the RP score, followed by PR score.

The analysis, which revealed that TLR and GO had the highest average scores, suggested that on average, the Indian Medical Institutes are generally strong in educational infrastructure and student success metrics. Meanwhile, the low scores in PR (perception) and RP(research) reflected challenges in building a strong national and international reputation, as well as the difficulties in producing high-impact research.

According to the researchers, the Indian medical institutes often lag behind in research and innovation due to several factors such as inadequate funding, limited access to advanced research infrastructure, and a lack of strong institutional focus on research activities. Apart from this, the heavy emphasis on clinical teaching and patient care in medical education can overshadow the importance of research, leading to fewer incentives for faculty and students and engaged in innovative projects, suggested the study.

The study also referred to bureaucratic hurdles, insufficient collaboration with global research institutes, and challenges in securing research grants as the possible factors exacerbating the issue and resulting in lower research output and innovation compared to global standards. The researchers opined that a balanced approach between teaching, learning, and research is required for the overall improvement of the institute.

The study also revealed a significant concentration of research output among a small number of highly productive institutions and that four most productive institutes alone contributed over a quarter of the total publications. On the other hand, the majority of institutions, particularly those classified as low and least productive, contributed relatively few publications, even no publications.

As per the researchers, while the productive institutes had access to better resources and they put greater emphasis on research activities, the low and least productive institutes may have faced challenges such as limited funding, inadequate research infrastructure and a lack of emphasis on research publication as part of their academic culture. They also highlighted the possibility that many researchers may have refrained from publishing in fully open-access international journals due to the high fee for open-access publication.

To enhance the research output, the study emphasized collaborative public health research, particularly from the grassroots level with medical institutes and opined that it can improve the healthcare outcome as well as foster research culture. Referring to India's diverse population and its significant health disparities, along with the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, the researchers mentioned that strengthening public health research through partnerships with medical institutes across the country would play a vital role in achieving sustainable health improvements, reducing health inequities, and enhancing the overall well-being of the population.

During the study, the researchers also found a strong positive correlation between RP scores and institutional rankings- suggesting that institutions with higher research output and better RPs tend to achieve better rankings.

"The multiple linear regression analysis reinforces that all five domains contribute to the rank, with RP being the most influential factor. The near-significance of OI and GO suggests that while these areas are important, they may not be as strongly predicting the ranking of the institutions (for the ranking year 2024)," mentioned the study.

The researchers concluded that analysis of the NIRF 2024 rankings showed that research emerged as the most critical determinant of institutional rank. Referring to the findings that the medical institutes were found to lag behind in research, the researchers opined that the medical institutes must prioritize enhancing research output, securing grants, fostering collaborations, increasing institutional visibility, and improving public and peer PR (perception).

"Future efforts should focus on addressing the current challenges faced by medical institutions in overcoming barriers to research and innovation, and by ensuring a more balanced regional representation in the rankings. With a holistic improvement of all the domains, the quality of medical education, patient care, and international presence can be improved, not merely the ranks!" the study concluded.

Also Read: NIRF Ranking 2024 for Top Medical Colleges released, AIIMS remains top-ranked, Check full list here