Six Himachal Pradesh-based universities figure in the top 200 rankings given by the Union Ministry of Human Resource’s under the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF).

Among these are three government universities - Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, CSK Krishi Vishvavidyala and Himachal Pradesh University and three private universities - Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Jaypee University, Waknaghat and Chitkara University, Solan.

An analysis of the rankings show that Dr Parmar University slipped from last year’s ranking of 71 to 80 this year while two other universities - Himachal Pradesh University and Chitkara University- slipped from the 101-150 band to 151-200 band in over-all rankings. 

Shoolini University succeeded in obtaining a hattrick of retaining its position in the 101-150 band despite an increase of about 150 institutions vying for a slot across the country. 

The Pharmacy College of the University and its Management Department were ranked number one in Himachal Pradesh. The Pharmacy college was ranked at 39 out of 301 while its Management Department was rated at an all India rank of 65 out of 555 institutions. The nine year old University is perhaps one of the youngest private universities to get such rankings. No other university from the state figures in the top 75 list for Pharmacy and Management.

The state has five government universities and 17 private universities. Meanwhile, a total of 23 universities out of 97 in the north of Delhi figure in the top 200 rankings out of about 300 universities, which had applied for rankings.

Panjab University, Chandigarh tops the list in the region by attaining the rank of 21 followed by Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (Deemed-to-be-University) and Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.