Four instruments โ SAMARTH, NEP, IKS, and AEGIS โ spanning 134+ indicators across research excellence, education policy, living knowledge heritage, and student safety. One goal: ranked, reform-ready, globally competitive universities.
Maharashtra does not suffer from lack of research capacity. It suffers from unstructured data governance, absence of ranking management systems, and no harmonized knowledge-transfer mechanism. MahaSAMARTH resolves this.
The Government of Maharashtra has formally appointed Indian Centre for Academic Rankings & Excellence (ICARE) as its designated institutional partner for MahaSAMARTH - confirmed by Government Resolution. ICARE brings over a decade of proven state-scale experience across MSIRF, KSURF, TANSURF, NIRF data validation, NAAC audit operations, and NEP implementation frameworks nationally.
Under MITRA, this programme installs permanent Global Ranking & Data Analytics Units (GRDAUs) inside each university - embedding capability that survives beyond the project.
Evidence-based indicator design, normalization logic, and transparent scoring aligned to NIRF, QS (World/Asia) and THE global frameworks.
A full-stack analytics and benchmarking engine embedded inside each GRDAU delivers live dashboards, heat-map gap analyses, and "What-If" ranking simulators so leadership knows which interventions will move the needle before committing resources.
The BOTT model ensures reform never resets with leadership changes. Systems are institutionalised into governance structures before ICARE exits.
Steering Committee spans the Governor's Office, MITRA and all 7 university Vice-Chancellors โ ensuring policy alignment at every level.
MahaSAMARTH deploys three independent star-rating instruments plus the AEGIS assurance layer - 134+ indicators and 33 assurance parameters total - measuring global competitiveness, NEP 2020 compliance, India's knowledge heritage, and student safety & inclusion.
50 indicators, 5 domains, aligned to NIRF, NAAC, QS World University Rankings, and Times Higher Education. Gives every university a transparent, evidence-based score on the parameters that drive national and global rankings. เคธเคฎเคฐเฅเคฅ - Capable ยท Empowered
49 indicators, 8 domains, aligned to NEP 2020, UGC Guidelines 2023-24, National Credit Framework, and Academic Bank of Credits. Measures curriculum reform, flexible pathways, faculty development, digital readiness, and student-centred outcomes.
35 indicators, 6 domains, mandated by UGC and NEP 2020, measuring how deeply a university has embedded India's living knowledge heritage into its academic fabric - from Ayurveda and Yoga to Sanskrit, indigenous sciences, and community partnerships. เคญเคพเคฐเคคเฅเคฏ เคเฅเคเคพเคจ เคชเคฐเคเคชเคฐเคพ - Living Wisdom
4 pillars, 33 parameters, and 400 points. A university that scores well on SAMARTH, NEP, and IKS but fails its students on safety, inclusion, and welfare cannot be called truly excellent. AEGIS closes that gap - making Maharashtra's universities not just globally ranked, but globally welcoming.
Five integrated stages transform institutional data from SAMARTH, NEP, IKS, and AEGIS into precise, measurable improvements across NIRF, QS, THE, and NEP compliance.
SAMARTH, NEP, IKS & AEGIS streams collected via standardised templates and API integrations
Data CollectionThree-layer validation: automated checks, cross-verification, and expert audits
Quality AssuranceDescriptive, comparative, causal & predictive analytics mapped to NIRF, QS, and THE indicator trees
IntelligenceUniversity-specific IDPs, ranking roadmaps, and live GRDAU dashboards delivered to VCs & MITRA
Decision SupportNIRF submissions co-piloted, QS/THE dossiers prepared, rank movements tracked in real-time simulations
RankingsDISHA is Maharashtra's state-scale academic intelligence platform - a full-stack data, analytics, benchmarking, and simulation engine embedded inside every GRDAU across all 7 universities.
Each university receives a dedicated GRDAU unit, custom Institutional Development Plan, and a 24-month ranking trajectory.
Refined through Gujarat's MSIRF (565 institutions), Karnataka's KSURF (40 universities), and NAAC's national DVV operations - now deployed at state scale for Maharashtra. Five rating cycles across all three instruments over 24 months. Every indicator scored. Every gap documented. Every improvement certified.
Team deployed. All 7 VCs introduced via MITRA and Chancellor's Office. SAMARTH, NEP, and IKS instruments finalised. Institutional Coordinators appointed. Rating Cycle 1 launched across all three platforms.
Cycle 1 scores finalised across all three instruments. Each university receives a combined diagnostic, GRDAUs are established, and the State Dashboard goes live for MITRA, CM's Office, and Chancellor's Office.
Two-day IDP co-creation workshop at each university using UGC IDP Guidelines. All three instrument gaps feed into one integrated IDP per university, formally signed by each VC.
Research sprints, NEP actions, IKS centre establishment, patent harvesting, Scopus and ORCID drives, QS Stars and THE Impact submissions, NIRF co-piloting, and quarterly VC KPI reviews.
Rating Cycle 5 endline across all three instruments. GRDAU sustainability handover transfers systems, portals, and methodology into university ownership. Final Closure Report is presented to MITRA and Chancellor's Office.
Based on five-year national benchmarking data and proven state-scale impact from MSIRF and KSURF programmes.
Up from 2 currently. Driven by corrected data architecture, NIRF co-piloting, and structured GRDAU submissions across all 7 institutions.
Up from 2 currently. Citation recovery, employer survey activation, and QS Stars submissions will add Maharashtra's unranked universities to the global map.
Up from ~24% across 7 universities, driven by journal tiering protocols, Scopus and ORCID drives, and publication-quality conditioning.
Reversing the current declining trend via metadata optimisation, repository pushes, author ID registration, and visibility engineering.
All three instruments - SAMARTH, NEP, and IKS - administered, validated, and certified across 5 full cycles over 24 months.
All 7 units fully staffed, SOP-driven, and embedded in formal university governance by Month 3 - and functioning independently after ICARE exits.
One custom IDP per university, co-signed by each Vice-Chancellor, and monitored across the full 24 months.
VCs, Registrars, IQAC heads, faculty, and data officers trained through 12+ expert workshops and quarterly role-based capacity programmes.
At least 3 universities reaching 4-5 stars on the NEP instrument through ABC registration, MEE pathways, OBE adoption, and digital readiness.
At least 2 universities achieving top-tier IKS ratings with dedicated centres, funded research, traditional knowledge documentation, and community partnerships.
Each milestone is grounded in operational evidence โ rating cycles, participation records, and institutional data โ validated directly through the platform and university submissions.
| Milestone | Stage | Timeline | Evidence | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GRDAUs Live + State Dashboard Deployed | Foundation | Month 2โ3 | GRDAU operational certificates from all 7 VCs and dashboard access provisioned to MITRA. | Very High |
| 7 IDPs Adopted โ SAMARTH, NEP & IKS Grounded | Planning | Month 3โ4 | IDP documents co-signed by Vice-Chancellors and MITRA. | Very High |
| 60%+ Capacity Building Participation Achieved | Capability | Quarterly | LMS attendance, workshop registers, and expert session logs auto-generated from platform. | Very High |
| 10% Score Improvement in 5% of Institutions | Early Impact | Month 12 | Cycle 3 vs Cycle 1 comparative across any of the three instruments (~20 institutions). | Very High |
| 20% Score Improvement in 20% of Institutions | Scale Impact | Month 18 | Cycle 4 vs Cycle 1 across all three instruments (~80โ140 institutions). Three independent improvement pathways. | High |
| 10 Institutions on QS/THE Global Platforms | Global Visibility | Month 15โ18 | QS Stars submission confirmations and THE Impact Rankings acknowledgements. | Very High |
| Programme Closure Report โ All Endlines Certified | Completion | Month 24 | MITRA-approved Final Closure Report with all three instrument endline comparatives. | Very High |
Maharashtra's universities are being measured on every dimension and improved on every front - through SAMARTH, NEP, IKS, and AEGIS. If you are a university leader, government official, or institutional partner, this is your invitation to be part of something permanent.