RANKING OF TOP UNIVERSITIES OF WORLD|INDIAN UNIVERSITIES IN WORLD RANKING

University of Cambridge retains
its number one spot ahead of
Harvard, according to the QS
World University Rankings 2011,
released today. Meanwhile, MIT
jumps to the third position,
ahead of Yale and Oxford.
While the US continues to
dominate the world ranking
scenario, taking 13 of top 20 and
70 of top 300 places, 14 of 19
Canadian universities have
ranked lower than 2010. As far
as Europe is concerned, Germany,
one of the emerging European
destinations in recent times, has
no university making it to the top
50 despite its Excellence
Initiative.
Asian institutions - particularly
those from Japan, Korea,
Singapore, Hong Kong and China
- have fared well at a discipline
level in subject rankings
produced by QS this year - this is
particularly true in technical and
hard science fields.
Despite the Indian government's
efforts to bring about a radical
change in the Indian higher
education sector, no Indian
university has made it to the top
200 this year. However, China has
made it to the top 50 and Middle
East in the top 200 for the first
time.
According to Ben Sowter, QS
head of research, "There has
been no (relative) improvement
from any Indian institution this
year. The international higher
education scene is alive with
innovation and change,
institutions are reforming,
adapting and revolutionising.
Migration amongst international
students and faculty continues to
grow with little sign of slowing.
Universities can no longer do the
same things they have always
done and expect to maintain
their position in a ranking or
relative performance."
As to the participation of Indian
universities, Sowter points out
that India remains one of the
most difficult places to glean
good data from. He adds that
greater openness and
responsiveness from Indian
institutions would better reflect
their strengths.
Further, as he explains, there is
more to why India is lagging
behind. The average top 200
universities in the world have the
following characteristics - about
26,000 students, 187 years old,
teach both undergraduates and
postgraduates, qualify as either
'very high' or 'high research
intensity.'
In India, Sowter adds, the
majority of institutions are
'highly specialised' or on an
entirely different scale -
University of Delhi has over
145,000 students. "Also, in these
changing times, when we have a
great exposure to university
websites, we see little or no
improvement in the international
projection of institutions in India
online. To an untrained eye, one
could be forgiven for concluding
that Indian institutions are not
especially interested in
competing internationally," he
says.
However, the IITs could be one
consolation. Throughout the
summer, QS has published
rankings in 26 specific subject
disciplines for the first time, and
the IITs have fared well in the
technical disciplines ranking of
relative performance.
Source: Times Of India