SOA retains no. 1 position in university category in Odisha

Surjit Kumar Dhal,Bhubaneswar, April 9: Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University here retained the 24^th position it had obtained in 2018 to occupy the top spot in the university category in Odisha as the rankings for institutions of higher education for 2019 were announced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in New Delhi on Monday.

            In the rankings conducted through the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and released by the President, Mr. Ramnath Kovind, SOA was placed 24^th in the university category— the spot it held in 2018— and 41^st among overall institutions of higher education in the country.

With this, SOA, which was conferred with the status of a Deemed to be University by the UGC in 2007, has remained the top institution in the university category in Odisha for the fourth consecutive year. Against the score of 49.59 it had registered in 2018, SOA continued to shine by securing 50.31 this year.

            SOA also emerged as the top ranked private Deemed to be University in the eastern region while its faculty of medical sciences, the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, was ranked 21^st in the country to be the top ranked medical college in the eastern region.

SOA’s faculty of engineering and technology, Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), which entered the ranking process for the first time this year, was ranked 32^nd in the country emerging as the top ranked engineering college constituent to a private Deemed to be University in the eastern region.

            The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has re-accredited SOA with the highest grade while three programmes of its faculty of engineering and technology have been accredited by the prestigious Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), USA.

Nine different institutions function under the SOA umbrella offering 89 academic programmes in engineering and technology, medical sciences, dental sciences, management sciences, hospital administration, pharmaceutical sciences and biotechnology, nursing, hospitality and tourism management, legal studies and agricultural sciences.