The QS World University Rankings are out and it is the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru that found itself in the top 200 varsities, bagging the 155th rank, and is the fastest rising South Asian university. The premier institute has gained 31 places and there are four IITs that have also featured in the category and have registered a higher rank as opposed to the one they held in the previous edition.
It may be noted that IISc is ahead of prestigious international institutions like Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Princeton University too.
London-based higher education analyst, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), released its 19th edition of the world's most-trusted international university ranking, as stated in a report by PTI.
The 172nd position has been secured by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (IIT Bombay) and is now India's second-best institution. It rose five places. Featuring on the 174th spot is IIT Delhi which has risen eleven places.
IIT Kanpur has bagged the 264th rank by rising 13 places and this is its highest position when one looks at the history of these rankings. When it comes to IIT Roorkee, it rose 31 places and is now at 369th rank, also its highest rank ever.
IIT Guwahati has also performed its best by advancing eleven places to the 384th position and debutant IIT Indore has found a spot, ranking 396 globally.
OP Jindal Global University has emerged as the highest-ranking private university in India, that too, for the third time in a row, as per the rankings.
As many as 41 Indian universities have found spots in the rankings, of which, 12 have improved their positions, 12 have managed to keep themselves stable, 10 declined and seven are debutants.
When it comes to improving research impact relative to global competitors, this compliment goes to 13 universities in the country that have seen a rise in the Citations per Faculty (CpF) score.
At the same time, it is still a struggle for universities here with regard to QS' measure of institutional teaching capacity. Out of the 41 ranked universities, 30 suffered declines in QS' Faculty and Student Ratio (FSR) indicator while four registered improvements, the rankings revealed.
On the brighter side, compared to none in the previous editions, two Indian universities rank among the top 250 for faculty and student ratio.
The highest performing in this metric is Savitribai Phule Pune University (225th for FSR) and OP Jindal Global University (235th for FSR), followed by IISc Bengaluru (276th for FSR).
"This edition of the QS World University Rankings reflects the excellent work that several Indian universities are doing to improve their research footprint, with positive consequences for their reputation on the global stage. Conversely, our dataset also suggests that the Indian higher education sector still struggles to provide adequate teaching capacity. Further expansion of provision — both within universities and across the sector as a whole — will be necessary if India is to continue reaching new heights," said Ben Sowter, QS Senior Vice-President.
"The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 aims to achieve equity, inclusivity, and quality across the education sector. Prime Minister Modi, his ministers, and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are implementing new frameworks which should radically transform India's higher education," he shared.
"Among these, the multi-modal education framework is instrumental in taking education to remote and inaccessible parts of the country and partially addressing the exponentially rising demand for university places in the largest democracy in the world," he added.
For the QS' Employer Reputation (AR) metric, 99,000 employers as well as hiring managers were surveyed globally.
The only two national universities to find space among the world's top-100 in this vital metric are IIT Bombay (59th) and IIT Delhi (72nd). They have managed to improve their ranking year on year.
Another place where Indian institutions are struggling is when it comes to QS' internationalisation metrics.
For the proportion of International Faculty, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is the best-performing local institution, securing the 411th rank globally. While the national leader for the proportion of international students is Amity University which stands 542nd globally.
It may be noted that this year's QS World University Rankings is the largest ever, with 1,418 institutions across one hundred locations, up from 1,300 last year.
