JNU Social Studies Centre ranks 51 globally

Amidst the ongoing controversy in JNU after some students being charged for sedition, the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS) has been ranked number 51 in the world this year in the QS world rankings. The CSSS has moved up by 7 ranks since last year. The centre has also achieved the distinction of being the country’s best sociology department for two consecutive years.

The jump in the world ranking comes at a time when the institution is at the centre of a row over an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, triggering huge concern among people worldwide regarding the university’s image. Interestingly, some of the students who are facing sedition and other charges in connection with the February 9 event on the university campus are from the same department.

The CSSS is one of the largest and prestigious departments of sociology in India with faculty strength of 19 and a student body of around 450. About 35 students are awarded M.Phil. degree and 25 students submit their doctoral dissertation every year on a range of socially relevant themes.

The Centre also houses a Chair in the name of Dr B.R. Ambedkar sponsored by the ministry of social justice, Government of India, which supports and conducts activities relating to the intellectual contributions of Ambedkar and provides scholarships to students from SC/ST sections for research work.

Last week, JNU was named as the winner of the President’s award for excellence in research and innovation. Describing the JNU as a prestigious university, President Pranab Mukherjee presented the award to the Molecular Parasitology Group of JNU for its pioneering work in the area of molecular parasitology, especially anti-malaria, leishmaniasis and amoebiasis. The JNU has already won two of the three Visitor’s Awards that had been instituted by the President last year.

While rating nearly 800 universities from all over the world, the QS World University Rankings for 2015-16, which were released earlier this week, take into account research quality, graduate employment, student-staff ratios, teaching standards and the number of international students. However, the academic reputation is the biggest single factor in the QS rankings, which is calculated by surveying more than 60,000 academics around the world about their opinion on the merits of institutions other than their own.