IITs in India have a reason to celebrate this year as Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) have found a place in the top 200 in QS World University Rankings 2019 that was released on Wednesday.
According to the QS Ranking, the number of Indian universities in the top 1,000 has increased from 20 to 24, while IIT-Bombay moved up 17 places (162 rank) to displace IIT-Delhi as India’s top ranked institution. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has also overtaken IIT-Delhi and is now ranked 170. 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 — and only three see their position drop,” Ben Sowter, QS Research Director, was quoted as saying by a news agency.
IIT-Bombay’s rise in the QS Rankings has been dramatic. Last year, the institute improved its performance by 40 positions, from 219 rank in 2016 to 179 in 2017. Overall, six of the country’s eight ranked IITs/IISc improved their rank.
“India’s improvements can be primarily attributed to improvements in QS’s reputational indicators, which account for the insights of 83,000 academics and 42,000 employers. Seventeen of India’s 24 ranked universities improve their rank for Academic Reputation, while 13 improve their rank for Employer Reputation,” he added.
According to QS ranking, Amrita University, Amity University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Thapar University, Vellore Institute of Technology are the five new entrants. Except for JMI, which has been placed in the 751-800 band, all the new entrants are in 801-1000 club.
To improve the global ranking of Indian institutes, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has been taking a number of initiatives by providing more funds and launching the Institutes of Eminence schemes.
“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 the Government of India to improve ranking of Indian institutions,” R Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Higher Education, MHRD, was quoted as saying.
For the seventh year in a row, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) remained the top university as per the QS ranking. The MIT was also ranked the world’s top university in 12 of 48 disciplines ranked by QS.
QS ranks the world’s top 1,000 universities, across 85 countries. The QS rankings were based on academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student-to-faculty ratio, proportion of international faculty, and proportion of international students.
