OdishaPlus Bureau
University of Oxford at the apex
Indian universities have expanded their presence in the annual rankings of the leading global educational institutions from 49 to 56 but dropped out of the top 300 bracket in this year’s ‘Times Higher Education World University Rankings’.India’s top-ranked university, Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) declined, marking the first time that India is not in top 300 since 2012 in the tally once again topped by the UK’s University of Oxford.
IISc still ranks the highest for India but has dropped into the 301-350 bracket (from 251-300 cohort), due to what has been described as a significant fall in its citation impact score offsetting improvements in the research environment, teaching environment, and industry income.
“India has a huge amount of potential in global higher education, given its rapidly growing youth population and economy and use of English-language instruction. However, it is disappointing to see the country fall out of the top 300 of the rankings this year, with only a small number of institutions registering progress,” said Ellie Both-well, ‘THE’ rankings editor.
“The Indian government has strong ambitions to boost the global standing of its top universities and attract foreign students, academics and research collaboration. It now needs to back up these aspirations with high levels of investment – or risk declining further amid increasing global competition, especially from other parts of Asia,” she said.
Overall, 56 Indian universities feature in the table, up from 49 last year. As a result, India holds on to its place as the fifth most-represented nation in the world and the third most-represented in Asia, behind Japan and mainland China. It has eight more universities than Germany, which is sixth in the country ranking, but 25 fewer than China. Newcomer IIT Ropar makes an impressive entry, pushing IIT Indore, which remains in the 351-400 band, into third place.
Overall seven Indian universities fall into a lower band this year, while the bulk of the nation’s institutions remain stable. But there are a small number of risers, including IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, and Jamia Millia Islamia.-PTI