This is the second year in a row that the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru has emerged at the top in the research citations per faculty (CpF) indicator in the QS World University Rankings 2023.  The IISc has also been recognised as the fastest rising South Asian university on the QS rankings’ top 200 list.

In the overall rankings, it has secured 155^th position, moving up 31 places in the last one year and surpassing the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay and IIT-Delhi, which had been ahead of  the IISC in the previous ranking round.

It is observed that the IISC has given much importance to academic freedom and infrastructural growth in recent years which has contributed to its improvement. There has been significant increase in high-impact research papers produced by younger faculty members due to the strong infrastructure for research.

The biochemistry department has made interesting breakthroughs in infectious diseases and there has been significant research activities in the fields of virology, plant biology, influenza virus research, covid virus research and rabies diseases. The research programmes around Covid-19 vaccination, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, etc. benefitted the start-ups in healthcare.

Another aspect that has propelled its achievement is that 70 per cent of its curriculum is based on research and only 30 per cent on course work which makes its students research-inclined and helps in exploring more innovations.

There is an increase in the number of Indian institutions featuring in the QS World University Rankings 2023 list, going up to 41 from the previous total of 35.  Also, there are now 27 Indian institutes among the top 1,000 globally rising from the previous count of 22.

A comparative list of 2022 and 2023 of top 500 ranked Indian institutions is below-

British Council comments

It has been six years since the Government of India launched the Institutions of Eminence scheme to help support improve global ranking of Indian education institutions with focus on 20 institutions to begin with but so far only 11 have been identified.   The objective of the scheme was  to enable these institutions achieve rankings within top 500 in any of the world-renowned ranking frameworks.  In addition, several initiatives were taken by the government to increase quantity and quality of research in universities/institutions through various schemes, awards, fellowships, establishing Centres of Excellence, Research Parks and Technology Business Incubators etc.  However, it is seen that only 4-5 institutions of eminence are able to secure a place in the top 500 category and most of these are technical institutions. 

There are several reasons attributed to this performance, which include insufficient documentation of processes, systems and outputs and hence incomplete data shared during ranking process.  Further, most of the Indian education institutions are teaching institutions and focus in reaching out to more students than on research and knowledge generation with their limited budgets.  Along with low inward mobility of international students and international faculty, the Indian institutions loose out against majority of the ranking indicators.   

In light of the above, many Indian education experts feel that this is not reflective of the quality of academic excellence of the Indian education institutions but recognising that global rankings is a measure that most look up to for making choices, the Indian government has lent its weight with the new UGC regulations on foreign collaborations for twinning, joint and dual degrees and the internationalisation strategy amidst roll out of new reforms. These changes at scale would take time and, in the meantime, a strong demand continues for quality higher education and international experience implying that the Indian students will continue to seek overseas education and this trend is expected to continue till the demand and supply does not match.

For any questions, please write to Sandeepa Sahay

Read more:

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/jun/09/41-indian-universities-feature-in-2023-qs-world-rankings-list-none-in-top-150-2463668.html

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/qs-world-university-rankings-2023-top-10-universities-globally-and-top-10-in-india-1960806-2022-06-10

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2023

http://reportwire.in/younger-faculty-members-healthcare-research-freedomwhy-iisc-leads-academia-in-india/

https://collzy.com/blogs/growth-reasons-behind-iisc-the-leading-academia-in-india/

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/we-should-have-strong-focus-clinical-research-iisc-director-govindan-rangarajan-7961296/

https://www.business-standard.com/article/education/qs-university-rankings-2023-iisc-ranked-world-s-best-research-varsity-122060801282_1.html