By Elton Gomes
The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, is the highest-ranked educational institution from India, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore comes in a position behind it, as per Times Higher Educations (THE) world university rankings 2019.
Released on Wednesday, the rankings show Oxford continues to hold the top spot, Cambridge cmes in second, and Stanford third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose one place above to occupy fourth spot.
In Asia, Tsinghua University of China replaced the National University of Singapore, and is the new number one school in the region.
Phil Baty, editorial director of Global Rankings for THE said, Indias bursting with innovation and ambitionthe nation has serious potential to grow into a leading player in global higher education. But while it increases its presence again in this years table, the majority of its universities remain immobile or in decline, struggling against increased global competitionparticularly from east Asia, Live Mint reported.
Baty further said that Indias educational reforms could be key to helping its institutions progress: Sustained investment, a continued drive to attract leading global talent, and a strengthened international outlook will be key to boosting its global reputation and research influence. Its current higher education reforms could be key to helping institutions progress.
Where do Indian institutions stand in the list?
The top 250 institutions do not feature any Indian varsity, but India saw an increase in the total number of institutions India now has 49 institutions in the list as compared to 42 in last years rankings.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru occupies the 251st position in the global rankings. The institution was ranked in 29th position in this years Asia University Rankings. In the rank band of 251-300, IISc shares the position with Jacobs University, Germany, and University of Illinois, Chicago, among others.
The IIT-Indore was ranked as the second best institution in India, and it occupied a spot in the list of top 400 global institutions. It surpassed IIT-Bombay, which was earlier ranked in the 351-400 band, but has now slipped to the 401-500 band.
Which Indian institutions are on the list?
It is important to note that IIT-Indore has been featured for the first time on the list. In an impressive debut, this year, the institute has surpassed IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, and IIT Kharagpur, ranked in the same order.
IIT Bhubaneswar finds itself in the rank band of 601-800 along with IIT Guwahati, IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad, University of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Amrita University, Tezpur University, Panjab University, Jadavpur University, and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune.
Among the NITs, NIT Rourkela has been ranked in the band of 601-800 and comes in first in India. The institute occupied the 126th spot in the Asia University ranking 2018. NIT Tiruchirapalli has been ranked in the 801-1000 band.
Deemed-to-be-university, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara (JSS) Academy of Higher Education & Research shares its rank with IIT Bombay and IIT Roorkee and is ranked among the top 5 Indian Universities in the list.
Some of the other new entries in this years list include IITs in Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune and Kolkata, and Acharya Nagarjuna University in Andhra Pradesh.
Although some institutions saw better rankings this year, the majority of Indias universities remain static or have been in a state of decline, struggling in the face of rising global competition, the world university analysis concluded.
The state of higher education in India
Indias universities will require extensive help from the government in order to improve. Universities in India seem to face several problems from the lack of quality and accountability to low levels of marketing quality of Indian schools globally.
With 822 universities and over 51,000 colleges, higher education in India seems to be suffering from a dual problem of quality and quantity.
In addition, the desired levels of research and internationalization of Indian campuses continue to remain weak points. Indian higher education also suffers from a lack of funds and its largely linear model that places little emphasis on specialization.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius