"The expectations from the IITs are very high. People think that the IITs are the best. They get the best of students and faculty. Only a handful makes it to these premier institutes. The rest come to universities. We have our constraints. Still we have been able to surge ahead," Grover said, adding that it was not out of nowhere that PU emerged as the top-ranked institution.

Crediting faculty and officials in PU for effective presentations and filling up the required data to compete for the rankings, Grover admitted that the university always had the potential but never competed for the rankings.

"The rankings have provided us self-confidence. It shows that we are not as pathetic as we are made out to be. A negative image is created about PU at times which is unfortunate. The data was there to fill up earlier (for the rankings). Why didn't you have the confidence to fill? This time, our presentations were well done," said Grover who took over as VC in July last year.

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