Mumbai: Two
Indian institutions have made it to the top 10 of a ranking of universities in
the BRICS bloc of nations, compared with just one last year.
IIT-Bombay has moved up to the 9th spot in the QS World
University Rankings: BRICS 2018, from 13th last time, making its debut in the
top 10. IISc-Bangalore has slipped four positions to the tenth from sixth.
Two more Indian institutions feature among the top 20 —
IIT-Delhi, which has fallen to 17th place from 15th, and IIT Madras that
climbed a spot to 18th.
As many as 14 institutions from India have made it to the top
100. Apart from the four in the first 20, these are IIT-Kanpur (21st),
IITKharagpur (24th), University of Delhi (41st), IIT-Roorkee (51st), IITGuwahati
(52nd), University of Calcutta (64th), Jadavpur University (74th), University
of Mumbai (82nd), Anna University (85th) and IIT-Hyderabad (100th).
As many as 65 Indian universities have been ranked this time
— more than Brazil (61) and South Africa (12), but fewer than Russia
(68) and China (94). The top four universities in the BRICS ranking are
from China: Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University and
University of Science and Technology of China.
India’s strength, relative to other BRICS nations, lies in
the fact that its universities have high proportions of qualified faculty.
Fifteen Indian universities have bagged a perfect 100 out of 100 for QS’s Staff
with PhD indicator, said a statement issued by Quacquarelli Symonds, the British
company that ranked the universities in the five BRICS nations.
Research productivity of India’s universities is also one of
its strengths. Three Indian universities — IISc-Bangalore, Institute of
Chemical Technology-Mumbai and IIT-Delhi — have received 100 out of 100 for
papers-per-faculty. All of the top seven scores for this indicator are achieved
by Indian universities.
Quantity of Indian research, however, is greater than its
average quality, the statement added. QS’s Citations per Paper metric measures
the impact of a university’s research output. No Indian entrant achieves a
top-10 score for this indicator, which is dominated by Chinese universities.
Ben Sowter, research director at QS, said: “The 2018 edition
indicates that Indian universities — should they wish to compete with the
dominant Chinese system — need to implement frameworks that encourage the
production of high-impact research. Creating extensive international research
networks allows collaboration, and ensures that research receives a wider
reach. Doing so will assist India’s best universities as they attempt to become
more globally competitive.”
Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES-23rd November,2017
