Faculty ratio no longer a criterion for ranking medical colleges
National Medical Commission (NMC)
New Delhi: The proportion of Professors and Associate Professors to the total number of Professors and Associate Professors — ie, the faculty ratio is no longer a criterion for ranking a medical college. Even though it used to be a parameter for the accreditation and rating of medical institutes across the country, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) has now dropped this requirement in the recently released Draft Framework for Accreditation, ranking of medical colleges.
The Apex Medical Commission had prepared the previous draft framework for rating medical colleges in partnership with the Quality Council of India (QCI). Under this previous framework, which was released in the year 2023, the parameter titled "Programme wise number of recruited Faculty Staff vis-à-vis Regulatory specifications" dealt with the programme-wise Faculty staff requirement, based on the minimum standard requirement (MSR) laid down for UG and PG programmes by NMC.
One of the required conditions under this parameter specified that "overall proportion of Professor and Associate Professors is greater than total number of Professor & Associate Professors required."
Therefore, the overall proportion of full-time or regular teachers to the overall faculty requirement used to be considered for rating the medical colleges. However, it has not been dropped by NMC in the recently released draft framework.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the new draft framework released by the Commission's Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), comprised 11 criteria and 78 parameters.
These 11 criteria for assessment and rating of medical colleges include (1) Curriculum Implementation and Capacity Building Activities, (2) Clinical Exposure, clinical training, internship, and training facilities, (3) Teaching-learning environment- Physical, psychological and occupational, (4) Students' admission, attainment of competence and progression, (5) Human resource and teaching-learning process, (6) Assessment policy (formative, internal & summative assessment), (7) Research output and impact, (8) Financial Resource (recurring & non-recurring expenditures, (9) Community outreach programs, (10) Quality assessment system, and (11) Feedback and perception of stakeholders.
While in the previous draft framework, which was prepared by the Quality Council of India (QCI), there were 92 parameters (20 qualitative parameters and 72 quantitative parameters), the number has dropped to 78 parameters (26 qualitative and 52 quantitative parameters). Not only the number of parameters but also the relative weightage assigned to some of the broad categories has been changed.
Apart from the proportion of Professors and Associate Professors to the total number of Professors and Associate Professors required, the Commission has also dropped the criterion, including the requirement to pay stipends to interns and resident doctors, and the publications in High Quartile Category journals.
Also Read: NMC Drops Stipend from medical colleges ranking Criteria, here's what else is missing
