Lack of research projects hurting Indian universities’ global status RESEARCH FUNDING

Lack of good research projects is one of the key reasons why Indian universities lag behind in international rankings. Other factors affecting their global rankings are the lack of adequate number of research institutes and fac- ulty, and inadequate funding, according to experts. Despite the government increasing grants for research-related activities, industry experts cite the slow bureaucratic process and lack of transparency as among the major challenges that the higher education industry continues to faces. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the total percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which has been allotted and released to the field of research in science, was 0.88% in 2011, 0.90% in 2012, 0.85% in 2013 and