How the rankings WERE DONE
Based on factual and perceptual scores, 170 varsities were part of the INDIA TODAY- Nielsen survey
INDIA TODAY partnered with The Nielsen Company and conducted the fourth consecutive survey to determine the top universities in India in the arts, science, and commerce streams. To determine the ranks, a formula based on a perception score ( from a structured interview conducted among academic experts) and an objective score ( factual data furnished by universities) was evolved.
Research was conducted to draw up a list of 170 universities eligible for the survey. Only those universities were considered which offer at least two postgraduate courses in arts, science and commerce. The list was drawn up using published reports, expert recommendations and the Association of Indian Universities handbook.
The parameters for which each university is judged were then drawn up after consultation with academics and experts from across India. The parameters include university reputation, quality of academic input, faculty, research strengths, student care, infrastructure, innovation, admission procedure, placement record. This year, we have also added security arrangements for students and global exposure.
From February to May, 2013, 347 experts ( deans, registrars, heads of departments and professors) from different streams across India were shown the list of 170 universities and were asked to rate them on the identified parameters ( based on their perceptions). Each parameter was assigned a weight based on the average importance given by the experts. Hence the most important parameter got the maximum weight and the least, the minimum. The experts were asked not to rate their own university. The overall perceptual score of a university was then calculated on the basis of the ratings given by the experts. And finally the universities were ranked based on their overall perceptual scores and a list of the top 85 universities was generated.
Requests for factual information on the same parameters were then sent out to the top 85 universities and data was eventually received from 50 of them. Those universities who did not submit their factual data were not considered for the final ranking. All factual information of a university was rescaled and then aggregated to get an overall factual score.
To derive the overall score for the universities, a weightage of 50 per cent was applied to the overall perceptual score and 50 per cent to overall factual scores. After assigning these weights, the overall score was indexed to 100. Thus the methodology of ranking, based on both perception and factual data, provides a comprehensive picture of each university rated.