• India
  • Sep 12

No Indian university in world’s top 300

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, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, 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 research environment, teaching environment and industry income.

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.

The best Indian institutions are generally characterised by relatively strong scores for teaching environment and industry income, but perform poorly when it comes to international outlook in comparison to both regional and international counterparts, the ranking notes.

While Oxford tops the global rankings for the fourth year running, the California Institute of Technology rises from fifth to second.

The University of Cambridge, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all drop one place to third, fourth and fifth respectively, while Princeton University and Harvard University swap places to finish sixth and seventh respectively.

Yale University holds steady in eighth, the University of Chicago rises one place to ninth, while Imperial College London falls one place, rounding out the top 10.

The UK capital, however, claimed a major win with four universities in the city listed in the top 40 - more than any other city in the world. The news came as the UK government introduced a two-year post-study work visa for international students, allowing overseas graduates a significantly longer period of time to find work after their studies.

The World University Rankings are drawn from the Times Higher Education database of university performance metrics, with more than 170 separate data points on each of the world’s leading research universities.

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