Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir has emerged among the top innovation-led universities of the country, as per the recently released NIRF-Innovation ranking by the Union Ministry of Education.
SKUAST-K is the only State Agricultural University in the country that has figured in NIRF-Innovation 2023 and only institution in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir to figure in the innovation band of 11-50 of the ranking.
National Institutional Ranking Framework Innovation (NIRF-Innovation) is an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt of India to rank major higher educational institutions and universities in the country on indicators related to “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development” among students and faculty members.
The top 10 ranks have been secured by some of the prestigious IITs, while as the SKUAST-K has emerged in the next band of the top 11-50 educational institutions of the country alongside Amity University, AMU, IIM, IIT Khargpur, IIT Guwahati and IIT Mandi with 45th All-India rank.
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra is the only other institution from the UT of J&K which has figured in the top 300 universities in the band of 150-300.
Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, said the ranking is in line with the university’s vision to be the first innovation-led farm university of the country. He said the university has taken path-breaking efforts towards mainstreaming innovation and entrepreneurship culture among the students and faculty of the university.
Prof Ganai said SKUAST-K, in the last few years, has registered 20 faculty and student startups with an idea bank of 100 commercially executable innovations.
SKUAST-K is the only farm university in the country that has received nine BIRAC BIG grants from the DST, GoI. The 1st farm university to adopt and implement the National Innovation and Startup Policy for students and faculty and the first across the nation to adopt and implement the NEP-2020. The university has earned an inclusive technology business incubator (i-TBI NIDHI) worth Rs 5 crore from the Department of Sciences and Technology New Delhi to streamline incubational activities under the SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (SKIIE) Centre.
