The Outlook-MDRA ranking of the top professional colleges—in its fifth avatar—presents few surprises.
- Two-thirds of the top 30 engineering colleges are run by the government.
- Twenty-two engineering colleges in the rankings are from the south; only three of them are government-run
- IIT, Kanpur, and IIT, Mumbai, have tied for the best infrastructure and facilities in the country.
- Private institute BITS, Pilani, has topped the ranking in overall student development.
When BITS Pilani comes with flying colours in ranking, a sense of pride can be measured in all those who passed out from there. BITS Pilani has always been well known for its stand on merit only policy and every parent felt proud when it is thundered by the officials during freshmen welcome that there is no quota of any kind to anyone. The instance of KK Birla refusing admission for candidate referred by the all powerful Indira Gandhi and other ministers has been quoted time and again. Even when the nation was boiling with the implementation of reservation policy on caste lines by Arjun Singh, BITS had taken a bold stand and opposed it stating that merit can not be compromised under any circumstances. However, what is not told is the fact that BITS Pilani has been giving direct admissions to children of BITS Staff as well as BET (Birla Education Trust) staff and to toppers of Birla schools in Pilani. This has been going on for past two decades and what is there to say when BITS vice chancellor children and present directors of its various campuses, deputy directors etc have all been beneficiaries of this direct admission scheme. Those who have spoken against this type of admissions have been sidelined and have left BITS. To attract large number of students for enrollment, the Birla School Pilani in Dec 2009 went to the extent of openly advertising that Sizeable Number of seats available against Management Quota for admission to BITS Pilani. Its time BITS Pilani comes out clean on this Staff Quota School Quota and disclose the sizeable number also.
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