Continuing its pre-eminent position in academics and research, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemed to be University here climbed several notches to be placed 16th in the country in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings for 2022 released by the Union Education Minister Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi on Friday.

SOA, nationally ranked 20th in the university category by NIRF last year, had improved its position in four different categories and broke into the top ten bracket in two others in the 2022 rankings. Two of the SOA institutes, Institute of Dental Sciences (IDS), faculty of dental sciences, and SOA National Institute of Law (SNIL), faculty of legal studies, figured in the top ten bracket in the country for the first time.

The 15-year-old Deemed to be University was ranked 30th in the overall category (37th in 2021) this time while it was ranked 18th in medical sciences, 27th in engineering and 10th in dental sciences categories. Entering the fray for the first time, SOA’s faculty of law was ranked 9th in the country while the university was placed 45th in research category.

SOA had recently reached a huge milestone when the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accredited the university with the highest Grade A++ with a Cumulative Grade Points Average (CGPA) of 3.88 out of 4.

Ever since the NIRF ranking was introduced by the Ministry of Education in 2016, SOA has been the youngest university to be continuously ranked among the top 25 universities in the country.

Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, SOA’s faculty of medical sciences, was ranked 21st by NIRF in 2021 while the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), faculty of engineering and technology, and Institute of Dental Sciences (IDS), were ranked 32nd and 14th respectively last year.

SOA’s latest ranking meant that it was the third best university in the east while its faculties of medical sciences and dental sciences occupied the number one position among the eastern states. It’s faculty of law was positioned third in the eastern region.

Founder President of SOA Prof. (Dr.) Manojranjan Nayak, expressing happiness over the ranks obtained by the university, congratulated the faculty and other employees for their continuous and relentless effort to make SOA successful in every field.