MIT and Harvard hold the top two positions in the world university rankings

MIT and Harvard hold the top two positions in the world university rankings

India has made its debut in the Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) list of top 200 universities globally. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D) have been placed 147 and 179 respectively in the QS World University Rankings for 2015-16, which has the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard at the top two positions.

While IIT-D has improved its position from the previous years’ rank of 235, IISC Bangalore is a new entry in the ranking list. None of the Indian universities has made it to the QS’ top 200 in the previous editions.

According to the QS list, there are 14 Indian institutions in the World University Rankings and half of them are among the global 400. “While the IITs and the Institute of Science have all progressed in this edition, the large comprehensive universities, such as the University of Delhi and the University of Mumbai have lost ground, principally because of the normalisation by faculty applied to the research indicator but also due to deterioration in other dimensions as well,” the QS says in its release.

In the list of top 300 are, IIT Bombay, which was placed at 222 last year has moved up to 202, IIT Madras up from 321 to 254 and IIT Kanpur at 271 from 300.

Jawaharlal Nehru University leads the Indian universities in Arts and Humanities table placed at 168th position while the University of Delhi is placed at 191 in this section and 191 in the Social Sciences and Management section.

Speaking to The Hindu, IIT-D Director K. Gupta said the improvement in the ranking was a result of the institute’s dedicated emphasis on improving the quality and quantum of research. “We are dedicated to excellence in teaching, research and innovation and we pay attention to the maintaining the best possible standards in these fields,” he said.

A step forward: IISc

“The rankings are largely due to our first undergraduate batch graduating this year. This was one of the criteria needed to feature in the global rankings,” said Anurag Kumar, Director, IISc, adding that the institute had ensured information was given in the correct format to facilitate proper reflection of the performance of the institute on the global stage. He believed the debut was a “step forward” for the institute. “Our performance has remained high. Other universities are catching up due to the impetus given to research in their regions. For us to be in the top 50, we need investment and support for our faculty,” he said.