Three IITs among world's top 200 in QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022

The latest QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022, which look at graduate employment processes and outcomes, have seen three Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)--Bombay, Delhi and Madras--rank among global top 200.

Released by global higher education analysts Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the independent list of the world’s top institutions for career-focused students has overall 12 Indian institutions ranked among 550 institutions globally.

Among these, India’s national employability leader – that which is implementing the nation’s strongest employability processes and achieving the strongest employability outcomes – is IIT Bombay, which is placed in the 101-110 group, moving closer towards the global top 100 (it was 111-120 earlier).

IIT Bombay is followed by Delhi, which has jumped from the 151-160 band to the 131-140 group, and IIT Madras, which has risen from the 171-180 band to the 151-160 category.

Of the 12 Indian institutions ranked, four have improved their position since the previous iteration of the ranking while another four have remained stable within their rank or band. Two Indian institutions have declined in rank while two, including O P Jindal Global University (JGU) and IIT Roorkee, are new entrants this year.

Commenting on Indian universities' performance in the rankings, Ben Sowter, Director of Research at QS, said, "The data that contributes to this ranking shows that Indian universities are consistently producing high numbers of entrepreneurs, business leaders, and other highly successful individuals. However, with consistently low scores in our Partnerships with Employers indicator, it is also clear that India’s higher education leadership must strive to create stronger links with industry, facilitating more employer-student connection opportunities on campus."

According to its founding chancellor Naveen Jindal, JGU's debut in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings comes at a time when the private varsity is celebrating its 12th anniversary on September 30, 2021.

Apart from a robust Office of Career Services contributing to its debut, JGU's founding vice-chancellor C Raj Kumar said, "JGU’s entry into QS GER also shows that non-STEM graduates can also develop impactful career trajectories given the right platform. JGU will continue to work towards strengthening its platform for creating meaningful and globally recognized career pathways for non-STEM aspirants."

According to over 50,000 employers surveyed by QS, IIT Bombay produces India’s highest calibre of graduates. It achieved the nation’s leading score for QS’s Employer Reputation indicator of 73.9/100, 70th globally.

Three Indian universities achieved top-100 scores for QS’s Alumni Outcomes metric, which measures the number of highly successful business leaders, philanthropists, creatives, high-wealth individuals, and entrepreneurs produced by each university. University of Delhi ranked 21st globally and number-one in India for this metric, scoring 96/100.

Indian universities have underperformed in QS’s Partnerships with Employers indicator, which captures the number of research engagements and work-placement partnerships formalized by each institution. Only one Indian university – IIT Bombay – achieved a top-200 score for this metric.

Moreover, IIT Madras achieved India’s highest location-adjusted Graduate Employment Rate score of 100/100, which was fourth globally, also making it the only Indian institution to achieve a top-50 score for this metric.

The QS Graduate Employability Rankings rate universities on partnerships with employers (including internships), the number of sectoral leaders among their alumni, the frequency with which employers are present on campus, and a location-adjusted graduate employment rate.

Meanwhile, on such independent data, Sowter said "With students becoming increasingly conscious of the competitiveness of the global graduate jobs market, and of the ever-increasing financial costs of their educational investment, it has become correspondingly crucial that independent data of this sort is available to them, so as to inform evidence-based decisions about their educational futures."