The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has retained the top spot among Indian institutes in the latest round of Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, which have been boycotted for the third year in a row by most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) due to transparency concerns.
While it is ranked first among Indian institutions, the IISc is ranked in the 251-300 range overall. According to a statement issued by THE, the University of Oxford has emerged as the best institute globally among 1,799 universities from 104 countries.
The Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences (351-400 overall) has taken the second spot among Indian institutions. The Himachal Pradesh-based private university is ranked 96th in the universities category in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022.
Shoolini University, however, shares the spot among Indian institutes with JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, another private university which is based in Karnataka. Tamil Nadu’s Algappa University, a public institution, has come out third in India (401-500).
Last year, the second place in the Indian category had been bagged by IIT Ropar, which has in this year’s edition of THE slipped to the sixth position, and to the 501-600 band globally from last year’s 351-400.
Among the other IITs which took part in the rankings, IIT Indore is placed in the 601-800 band, followed by IIT Patna and IIT Gandhinagar in the 801-1000 band.
In total, eight IITs feature in this year’s rankings by THE, its spokesperson told The Indian Express.
It was not immediately clear as to how many IITs participated in the rankings process. The complete list will be released Wednesday.
The parameters based on which the institutes are ranked are: teaching (30%), research (30%), citations (30%), international outlook (7.5%), and industry outcome (2.5%). In teaching and research, 15% weightage each is based on a ‘reputational survey’.
The spokesperson added that the organisation held talks with the ‘IITs (and other institutions) on several occasions and continue to welcome discussions with them’ on ironing out the differences.
‘As mentioned, we have given a detailed explanation of our rankings methodology, and have listened to their input. In the next edition of the ranking, to be launched next year, we have incorporated some of their suggestions,’ the spokesperson said.
IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi, on the other hand, claimed that the rankings are opaque. Prof. Subhasis Chaudhury, director of IIT-B, stated, “There is no improvement in the transparency factor in their process.” The institute is immediately assigned a rank. We should be aware of the procedure. There is no reason to participate if we do not know what we are participating in.’
THE rankings were last updated in 2019 and placed IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi in the 401-500 overall band, trailing the Ropar and Indore campuses.