Indian pvt institutes move up in QS World University Rankings by Subject

IIT Madras, Bombay, Kharagpur feature in top-50 ranks for petroleum, mineral & mining engineering programmes

India's private institutes have improved their performance in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject, released on Thursday.

Yet, public 'Institutions of Eminence' remain significantly better-represented in the QS World University Rankings than private ones. Of the ten private universities selected as Institutions of Eminence, six have made it to the subject rankings, with OP Jindal Global University the only private Institute of Eminence in the top-100.

"A number of programmes at India’s privately-run prospective Institutions of Eminence have made progress this year, demonstrating the positive role that well-regulated private provision can have in enhancing India’s higher education sector," said Ben Sowter, Senior Vice President of Professional Services at QS on the latest rankings.

Compiled by global higher education analysts QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), the eleventh edition of the rankings provide independent comparative analysis on the performance of 14,435 individual university programs across 51 academic disciplines and five broad faculty areas.

Globally, the top performing Indian institutes this year include Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, ranked 30th for its petroleum engineering programme, IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur (ranked 41st and 44th positions, respectively, for mineral & mining engineering. University of Delhi shared the 50th rank for Development Studies.

However, with the number of Indian programmes across 51 subject rankings decreasing over last year from 235 to 233, the ranking agency QS believes India has a highly-challenging task of expanding provision of programs without sacrificing.

While 12 leading Indian universities and higher education institutions achieved top-100 positions in their subjects, 25 Indian programmes in all achieved top-100 positions – one fewer than the previous edition.

"One of the biggest challenges faced by India is educational–providing high-quality tertiary education in the face of exploding demand: this was recognised by last year’s NEP, which set the ambitious target of a 50 per cent gross enrolment ratio by 2035. It should therefore be small cause for concern that the number of Indian programmes featuring across our 51 subject rankings has actually decreased over the last year, from 235 to 233. While this is a minor dip, it is indicative of the fact that expanding provision in a way that does not sacrifice quality remains a highly-challenging task," Sowter added.

Among private institutions, while OP Jindal Global University entered the global top-100 for Law, Birla Institute of Technology and Science entered the rankings for pharmacy & pharmacology, placing in the 151-200 band.  

The pharmacy & pharmacology subject rankings also saw India's Jamia Hamdard enter the top-150 rankings in the 101-150, with Manipal Academy of Higher Education entering the top-200 in the 151-200 band. Whereas, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) has broken into the top 300 for electrical and electronic engineering in the 251-300 band.

Meanwhile, according to QS, India remains at the forefront of global environmental science research with data from QS’s research partners at Elsevier indicating that India ranks fifth in terms of its research footprint in this field – behind only Germany, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Apparently, six Indian universities are featured in QS’s Environmental Sciences ranking, with IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur (151-200) attaining top-200 positions and IIT Guwahati newly-ranked this year in the 401-250 band.