NEW DELHI: The Indian Institutes of
Technology continue to represent the nation
most successfully as far as quality of
imparting higher education is concerned,
according to the QS BRICS 2014 University
Rankings published on Tuesday. The good
news is that there are eight Indian
institutions that have made it to the top 50.
However, India is the only country that
couldn't find a place in the top 10-which is
the bad news.
There are five institutions, led by IIT Delhi,
in the top 20. Among institutions devoted to
general studies, Delhi University is the
highest ranked at 39, having bettered its last
year's rank of 53 and beating last year's
top-ranked Calcutta University which is
now at 50.
The QS BRICS 2014 University Rankings
compares the Top 200 institutions in Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa and
has identified China as the most likely
among BRICS nations to achieve its goal of
developing world-class universities. The
top-ranked university is Tsinghua
University, followed by Peking University,
both from China. In fact, China claims six of
the Top 10 places, ahead of Brazil (two),
Russia (one) and South Africa (one).
The overall rank of the top Indian player-
IIT Delhi-is 13 this year, which is no
improvement from last year's rank. The
other Indian universities in the Top 20 are
IIT Bombay (ranked 15), IIT Kanpur (ranked
16, up from 17 last year), IIT Madras
(ranked 17, down from 16 in last year) and
IIT Kharagpur (ranked 20, down by two
ranks from last year). In all, 20 Indian
institutions have found a place on the list.
Delhi University has overtaken the
University of Calcutta to become India's
highest-ranked general studies institution,
thanks to improvements in staffing levels
and research citations. The University of
Mumbai is ranked 68 this year, down by six
ranks from last year.
Meanwhile, IIT Kharagpur has a higher
proportion of PhDs among its staff than any
other university with three other Indian
institutions also in the top five on this
count. However, in overall staffing, only
Manipal University is in the top 100.
Ben Sowter, head of research, THE-QS
World University Rankings, says, "Indian
universities have been struggling to keep
pace with increasing demand for university
education from the country's vast young
population. There are now frequent calls
for reform of the country's complex higher
education system and for universities to
become more transparent."
The new government has promised a
national commission on education to reform
and revitalize the sector and to make India
a knowledge hub. The first copy of the QS
University Rankings: BRICS 2014 was
presented to prime minister Narendra Modi.
Karthick Sridhar, vice-chairman, Indian
Centre for Assessment and Accreditation,
said, "While it is sad to note India's absence
in the Top 10, going by the excitement
created by the new government, we believe
that year 2015 will paint a different story."
"India is expected to be a $10 trillion
economy by 2030, from the present $2
trillion. It will also be the most populous
nation with over 130 million people in the
college-going age bracket. The MHRD under
the new minister must mandate the IIT's
and elite institutions to focus more on
research, attract global talent and aspire for
higher rankings and continue to shine a
light of excellence on the global scale,"
added Sridhar.
