11 Indian universities in top 100 of Times Higher Education Rankings

With 11 universities getting ranked this year in the top 100, India has seen the highest representation since 2015 in the latest Times Higher Education’s (THE’s) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020.

The achievement marks the second time 11 Indian institutions have held top 100 positions since 2015 when an equal number of universities were ranked in the top 100.

According to THE, with 30 varsities, China has more universities in the top 100 than India, from a total of 47 countries and territories included in the ranking. Overall, 56 Indian universities appear in the full ranking of the 533 universities in total.

While it retained its top position among Indian varsities, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore fell by two places to 16, followed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur and IIT-Bombay at 32nd and 34th positions.

Further, one of the participating universities in the Ministry of Human Resources Development’s Institutes of Eminence scheme, which was established in 2017 to influence the ranking data, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham broke into the top 100 for the first time, moving up a massive 51 places from a joint 141 in 2019. According to THE, Amrita declared improvements in almost all the ranking metrics, compared to 2019.

The other universities included in the Institutes of Eminence scheme that appear in the top 100 mark the biggest improvers in the ranking, with IIT-Kharagpur moving up 23 places to 32,  IIT-Delhi climbed 28 places to a joint 38, while IIT-Madras rose 12 places to a joint 63. Both IIT-Ropar and Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, on the other hand, marked their debut with joint 63rd and joint 73rd positions in the top 100.

The Institutes of Eminence scheme provides participating universities with government funding and greater autonomy with the aim of moving them into the top 100 of the world university rankings, including THE’s World University Ranking, over time.

The government expects to achieve this through a number of changes, including an increase in foreign students and staff, offering online courses, and encouraging academic collaboration with top universities around the world.

“There has long been a debate on the success of Indian universities in world rankings, and for too long they have been seen as underperforming on the global stage. The Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020 suggests that real progress is being made by a number of institutions in a number of metrics across our robust methodology, and could mark an exciting turning point for Indian higher education, enabled in part by the Institutes of Eminence scheme,” said Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer, THE.