Angam Niumai
Assistant Professor & HoD - FMS Department, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Shillong
As per the “India Autonomous Colleges Ranking”, five colleges from Northeast India gets listed under top 100 colleges of the country, of which three colleges are from Nagaland, one from Mizoram and the other from Assam in the latest ranking. This finding challenges prevailing perceptions of Nagaland as an underrecognized hub for higher education within the Northeastern region. Despite minimal institutional promotion, longitudinal analysis underscores Nagaland’s emergence as a leading destination for college education in Northeast India, warranting scholarly inquiry into the drivers of this performance.
When an analysis is done employing a mixed-methods approach, combining Quantitative Analysis, which is the Ranking data (2018–2023) from the India Autonomous Colleges Ranking, the NIRF ranking and the Qualitative Insights of Faculty profiles and institutional practices in order to understand how and why colleges in Nagaland are beating all other colleges in Northeastern region of the country, one strong indicator that stood out is the relative quality of the teachers. Faculty in Nagaland’s top colleges exhibit advanced academic credentials, with a significant proportion holding or pursuing PhDs from premier Indian universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), University of Delhi, Hyderabad Central University, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai). Also, Over forty per cent of the faculty members possess prior teaching experience in metropolitan institutions, such as colleges affiliated with the University of Delhi, enriching pedagogical practices through exposure to diverse academic ecosystems. Faculty with metropolitan academic backgrounds reportedly integrate innovative teaching methodologies, fostering critical thinking and interdisciplinary engagement.
Notably, the under-recognition of Nagaland’s colleges highlights broader biases in regional educational narratives, which often equate visibility with quality. This misperception risks deterring students from accessing high-caliber institutions within their home states. The Naga students and students from other northeastern states of India, needs to start looking at colleges, within the state of Nagaland, with a renewed sense of respect, knowing well that the best colleges in the northeastern region of India are in Nagaland itself, not Guwahati, not Shillong, nor Sikkim.
Preliminary evidence suggests that colleges in Manipur possess comparable faculty qualifications to Nagaland, despite various challenges.
References
• India Autonomous Colleges Ranking. (2023). Annual Report on Higher Education
Institutions.
• University Grants Commission (UGC). (2022). Faculty Development Initiatives in
Northeast India.
