The ARIIA Initiative – Raising The Bar For Indian R&D, Entrepreneurship Across All Fields

September 23, 2020

Uncategorized

For quite a long time Indian research and development and entrepreneurial activities have struggled to gain recognition at the global stage. This has essentially been attributed to the absence of coordination between India’s biggest HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) combined with the lack of encouragement and validation of young innovators and entrepreneurs who take the initiative to accomplish extraordinary things. 

As a measure to mitigate this problem, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Government of India, has instituted a special program called the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA). This program is named after the former Prime Minister of India, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The intention of this initiative is to showcase the progress being made by every single HEI across the country, by systematically ranking them according to the progress in innovation and entrepreneurship being made by students and members of faculty within these institutions.  

What Are The Objectives Of The ARIIA Initiative?

Through the institution of this program, the Ministry Of Education (MoE) of the Government of India hopes to propel HEIs to encourage their students, research scholars, and members of faculty to take up more entrepreneurial endeavors and not completely focus on the traditional approach which is centered on University rankings through scoring high in examinations. The ARIIA initiative will give HEIs the incentive to want to assist and support their students and faculty members to innovate, carryout more R&D activities, develop/hone the necessary skills required to become successful entrepreneurs, etc. 

The ARIIA initiative will also propel those institutions that already functioning with such a mentality to do better and improve the quality of their innovation and entrepreneurial activities, by comparing themselves with other top HEIs in the country. The ranking system will help these HEIs realize that it is not just the encouragement of all innovative and entrepreneurial effects that counts, but the encouragement of those efforts that are likely to have the maximum positive impact on prevalent societal issues and challenges, that matter the most. In turn, the sheer groundbreaking and pioneering nature of many of these activities with regards to solving societal problems and changing human lives for the better will increase exponentially, putting Indian research and development as well as entrepreneurship under the global spotlight. 

The positive competitiveness between India’s top HEIs that will result because of this initiative will truly help budding Indian researchers and entrepreneurs shine bright and make the country proud in the years to come. One of the most highly anticipated education webinars being organized by IFERP will delve into detail about the ARIIA initiative and its objectives. 

Criteria Taken Into Consideration For The Ranking Of Top Performing HEIs

Detailed below are all the parameters that the members of the Evaluation Committee set up by the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Government of India will consider, to rank each Indian HEI. 

• Budget & Funding Support Provided By The HEI To Its Students, Faculty Members & Others

To begin with, when judging what the ARIIA ranking of a particular HEI will be, the members of the Evaluation Committee will determine the expenses that the institution incurred in its effort to encourage its students, faculty members, research scholars, and others, to undertake innovative and entrepreneurial ventures. The total number of marks taken into account for this particular parameter is 20. The higher the budget and expenses of an HEI, the more number of marks it will be awarded by the Evaluation Committee.

• Infrastructure Made Available & Facilities Set Up By A HEI To Promote Innovation & Foster Start-Up Culture Within Its Institution

While the origins of all innovative and entrepreneurial activities lie in ideas, the infrastructure to refine and develop these ideas is the most important element. Without adequate facilities such as advanced labs, equipment, and infrastructure, an HEI cannot possibly hope for the talent that lies within it, to flourish. This is why the MoE has added this factor as a parameter in its ranking criteria. The total marks for this parameter are 10, and the more the number and better the quality of the infrastructure and facilities set up by an institution, the more marks it is likely to be awarded. 

• Activities Carried Out To Raise Awareness & Promote New Ideas

Inspiration is the origin of every idea leading to a great innovation or entrepreneurial effort. Despite living in the digital age when information and knowledge are not hard to come by, the real inspiration that leads to incredible feats continues to remain elusive. In order to be able to inspire members of its institution, an HEI has to take the planning and organizing of educative events, awareness programs, skill development activities, etc, very seriously. Based on the seriousness that an HEI has exhibited and the effort that it has put in to organize such events regularly for its students, faculty members, and others, the HEI is awarded marks out of 20. 

• The Promotion, Support & Assistance Of Promising Entrepreneurial Efforts

Encouraging entrepreneurship within an institution doesn’t just entail offering verbal support or some basic recognition of the efforts of the entrepreneur. Real support involves actual painstaking effort in the form of providing the necessary support and assistance required to help the entrepreneur meet his/her end goal. While a lot of HEIs promote entrepreneurship and innovation within their institutions, the most successful ones ensure that the vast majority of R&D projects and entrepreneurial ventures are fulfilled and don’t remain stagnant. This parameter is used to determine the output of every HEI, and the higher the number of successful projects and ventures an HEI churns out the more marks out of 20 it is awarded.

• Rate Of Successful Commercialization

Commercialization involves getting a patent or intellectual property right on a certain idea, innovative project, or entrepreneurial venture. In order for an institution to obtain as many marks as possible out of 14, it has to demonstrate that it has successfully managed to obtain patents, trademarks, intellectual property registrations, and the like, for as many of its students (involved in innovation projects and entrepreneurial ventures) as possible. 

• Innovative Learning Programs, Methodologies, Courses, Strategies, Etc

Aside from evaluating what measures an HEI has taken to enhance skill development, knowledge dissemination, knowledge retention, and practical implementation, amongst members of its institution, this parameter also takes into account the caliber of the faculty employed by the institution. How does the Evaluation Committee assess this? By determining how many faculty members of an HEI have patents, IPRs under their names, how many of them have run or are currently running successful entrepreneurial enterprises, how many of them have been involved in innovative projects, etc. The number of marks allocated for this particular parameter is 10.  

As far as the measures taken to improve learning are concerned, the Evaluation Committee looks for novel teaching techniques employed by faculty members of the institution to help students learn advanced concepts quicker; testing methodologies put into practice to enable the better retention of advanced concepts for longer periods of time, etc. 

• Efforts Taken To Improve Quality & Effectiveness Of Governance

One of the most significant reasons for a lot of HEIs not being able to capitalize on the tremendous talent that lies within their institution is improper governance. Not only does this bring down the stature of the institution over time and lower its reputability, improper governance also results in many talented innovators and budding entrepreneurs not receiving the support and assistance required for them to become successful. The ARIIA initiative will also help institutions make massive strides in improving the way they govern day-to-day operations, programs, support & funding for entrepreneurial efforts, and a whole lot more. Six marks have been allocated for this particular parameter. 

Register For IFERP’s Forthcoming Webinar On The ARIIA Initiative

In an effort to raise consciousness of the ARIIA initiative by the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Government of India, IFERP has scheduled its forthcoming “Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements“ webinar on the 25th of September, 2020. 

Although this is primarily a webinar for students, IFERP invites all members of faculty from HEIs across the country, research scholars, delegates from the IT industry, and others, to take part in this high-level event. 

Over one and a half hours, from 5 PM to 6.30 PM on the 25th of September, 2020, participants of this webinar will gain insight into – 

• the present state of Innovation & Entrepreneurship in India, 
• how India compares to the globe in these areas, 
• the significance of the ARIIA program, 
• how Indian Innovation & Entrepreneurship will benefit from this initiative, 
• what participants (who are budding entrepreneurs and talented innovators) can do to fully exploit this initiative and achieve success in their respective projects, and plenty more. 

Globally renowned experts from the field of education, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship are expected to speak at this highly anticipated event. This event offers all talented entrepreneurs and innovators the perfect opportunity to gain life-changing conference experience from the comfort of their homes, without having to put their health at any risk during these uncertain times. 

In addition to incredible insights into the ARIIA initiative by the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Government of India, and guidance on how participants can make the most of this initiative, this webinar will also offer representatives of HEIs a clear idea on how to work towards improving the ARIIA rankings of their institutions and improving their reputability as an institution that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels. 

Participants of this incredible IFERP-webinar will receive – 

• opportunities to connect, interact, network, and forge relationships and collaborative partnerships with globally reputed professors, innovators, entrepreneurs, and others. 
• an E-Certificate that will add tremendous value to their CVs and professional profiles, as well as, 
• exclusive IFERP membership until December of 2020, for free-of-charge! 

Hurry, register for this webinar right away, to avoid missing out on all the above-mentioned advantages of webinar and more.