The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore emerged as the best higher education institution in India, ranking 155th globally in the latest edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings (WUR). IISc has witnessed a massive jump of 31 positions in its rank in comparison to last year, Trend reports citing Hindustan Times.
According to a statement issued by QS analysts, on Thursday, the 19th edition of the ranking featured a total of 41 Indian Universities. Of them, 27 were featured in the top 1000. Last year, 22 Indian institutes were placed among the top 1000. As many as six of these 27 universities found place within 300 but only three made it to the top 200, like last year.
Overall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world’s top University for the 11 consecutive year. The University of Cambridge has risen to second place, while Stanford University remains in the third position.
The two other institutions that made it to the top 200 from India were the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay (IIT-B) and Delhi (IIT-D). While IIT-B secured 172nd rank globally, rising five places from last year, IIT-D placed at 174th rank , up 11 places since last year.
“The Indian Institute of Science (155 th globally) is the new national leader. Remarkably, it is also the global leader in the Citations per Faculty indicator, which QS uses to evaluate the impact of the research produced by universities. Furthermore, IISc Bengaluru is the fastest rising South Asian university in the QS World University Rankings top- 200, having gained thirty-one places year on year,” the statement read.
“All the featured IITs improved their standing, a testimony to the strength and success of the Indian public technological research university model,” it added.
While IIT-Madras secured 250th rank, IIT-Kanpur stood 264th, IIT-Kharagpur 270th and IIT-Roorkee 369th. IIT-Guwahati gained eleven places and came in 384th and IIT-Indore stood as the highest-ranking debutant in this edition coming in 396th.
As many as six indicators were used to determine the QS world university rankings 2023. They included academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international students ratio and international faculty ratio.
In terms of the performance of the Institutes of Eminence (IoEs), five of the declared public IoEs ((IISc, IIT-B, IIT-D, IIT Madras, and IIT-Kharagpur) attain a higher rank than in the previous edition. Two of the public IoEs, including University of Delhi (DU) and University of Hyderabad, witnessed a decline in their rankings and the ranking of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) remained unchanged.
Among the private IoEs, OP Jindal Global University scored the highest rank ( in the 651-700 band) for the third year in a row. Two of the declared private IoEs, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani maintained the same rank this year.
As many as seven new universities made their debut in QS this year. They included, IIT-Indore, University of Madras, IIT-BHU, Chandigarh University, National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Tiruchirappalli, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, and Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology.
Ben Sowter, QS’ Senior Vice President, said: “This edition of the QS World University Rankings reflects the excellent work that several Indian universities are doing to improve their research footprint, with positive consequences for their reputation on the global stage. Conversely, our dataset also suggests that the Indian higher education sector still struggles to provide adequate teaching capacity. Further expansion of provision – both within universities and across the sector as a whole – will be necessary if India is to continue reaching new heights.”
Founding Chancellor of OP Jindal Global University Naveen Jindal, said, “To be recognised as India’s No. 1 private university for the third year in a row by the prestigious QS World University Rankings is quite an achievement for JGU. The fact that a non-STEM and non-Medicine university has emerged as India’s top private university year after year proves that the study of humanities and social sciences has tremendous relevance for employment generation as well as for creation of knowledge needed for solving the complex problems that the world faces today.”
Prof TG Siitharam, Director of IIT Guwahati said, “A higher ranking in QS WUR for IIT Guwahati makes me very proud of our excellent faculty and students and their efforts to contribute towards top quality research as well as other parameters. Their achievements are critical to our continued success in the global rankings. We will continue to focus on high-end research and make steady strides to go up the global rankings.”