IITs, IISc witness drop in global university rankings, no Indian institute in top 150
IIT Bombay
All of India’s premier educational institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have witnessed a fall in the global university rankings this year.
According to the QS World University Rankings 2016-17 report, which was released on Tuesday, no institute from India features among the global top 150.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, remained India’s highest-ranked institute this year. However, its rank fell from 147 last year to 152 this year.
The top 2 IITs, IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay also witnessed a fall in rankings this year. IIT Delhi remained the top ranked IIT, with a ranking of 185, while IIT Bombay came second with a ranking of 219. In comparison, the institutes were ranked 179 and 202 last year respectively.
For the first time, IIT Madras breached the 250 mark and ended with a ranking of 249. IIT Kanpur secured a rank of 302, IIT Kharagpur stood at 313 and IIT Roorkee ended with a rank of 399.
The ranking for Indian institutions fell primarily because of the drop in both academic and employer reputation. According to Ben Sowter, head of research at QS Intelligence Unit, other factors that contributed to the fall in rankings are – less PhD qualified researchers, lower faculty-student ratio and lack of adequate investment.
In terms of research impact, only 4 IITs featured in the top 100 this year compared to 5 last year, as IIT Madras fell eight spots and ended with a ranking of 101. IISc remained India’s highest ranked research institution with a ranking of 11.
US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was ranked world’s best for the fifth consecutive year. It was followed by Stanford University, which ranked 2, and Harvard University at 3. Since the inaugural rankings of 2004, it is the first time when top 3 ranks are held by US-based institutions.
