QS world rankings: IITs, IISc figure in top 200

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) are in the top 200 in QS World University Rankings 2019 released on Wednesday. The number of Indian universities in the top 1000 increased from 20 to 24

IIT Bombay is now the top institute in the country rising seventeen positions from 2018 to 162, displacing IIT Delhi which has remained at 172 . The Indian Institute of Science too has overtaken IIT Bombay and is now ranked 170. The fifteenth edition of the QS World University Rankings, released by global higher education analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds, and considered one of the most authoritative and prestigious rankings in the world sees six of India’s eight top ranked IITs/IISCs improving their rank, with two remaining stable yearon-year. Globally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology remains the top university for the seventh consecutive year. QS ranks the world’s top 1000 universities, across 85 countries.

With this year’s rankings, the five first IITs and the IISc are now in the top 500. “The positive performance recorded by India’s most prominent institutions is symptomatic of a successful year for the country’s higher education system. 24 universities feature from India. 7 improve their rank, 9 remain stable, 5 are newly-ranked ,” said Ben Sowter, QS Research Director.

“Indian improvements can be attributed to improvements in QS’s reputational indicators, which account for the insights of 83,000 academics and 42,000 employers. 17 of India’s 24 ranked universities improve their rank for Academic Reputation, while 13 improve their rank for Employer Reputation,” Sowter added.

“This is an affirmation of faith in the premier Indian higher educational institutions and an endorsement of the effectiveness of the measures being taken by Indian Government to improve ranking of Indian institutions,” said R Subrahmanyam, secretary, higher education, HRD ministry.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has been taking several steps to improve the global rankings of educational institutions in India, especially the world-renowned IITs by providing more funds for research and launching the Institutes of Eminence scheme under which institutes would be freed from regulatory framework so that they can take decisions promptly.

There’s still work to be done beyond the top universities, though, according to Sowter. “Most of India’s other universities are struggling to improve their research impact, relative to global competitors: 12 see their rank for Citations per Faculty drop, while only 7 improve. India’s universities are also struggling to internationalize in an increasingly-competitive international education market. 16 of 24 see their International Student Ratio rank drop year-onyear.”