IISc among world's top 10 small varsities

Small universities are defined by having fewer than 5,000 students

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has become the first Indian university to make it to the top 10 oaf Times Higher Education’s the World’s Best Small Universities 2017 list. 

IISc was placed eighth on the list dominated by universities from France and Italy, with three each making it to the top 10. 

The list was topped by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for the second year in a row. France’s École Normale Supérieure retained the second spot, while South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology improved its ranking by a spot to third. France’s École Polytechnique, which came in third in 2016, was ranked fourth this year. The next two ranks were taken by universities from Italy, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, respectively. 

Despite the new high, India had two misses this year. The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and Savitribai Phule Pune University, which were ranked 14 and 18, respectively, in the 2016 edition, could not retain their spots in the top 20 this time.

“To be eligible for the rankings, universities must appear in Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2016-17, teach more than four subjects, and have fewer than 5,000 students,” Seeta Bhardwa, student content editor at Times Higher Education, wrote in a post. 

The ranking found that students from small universities preferred a more close-knit learning environment. “Many students are drawn to smaller class sizes, higher teacher to student ratios and the community-like feel that a small university can provide,” Bhardwa wrote.

France’s École Normale Supérieure de Lyon came in at seventh while Sweden’s Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Italy’s Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, followed IISc on the list.