No Indian university on BRICS top-10 list

India is the only BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) country that doesn't have any entity named in the list of the top 10 BRICS universities, according to the latest Quacquarelli Symonds university rankings. China leads the tally, accounting for six of the top 10 slots, ahead of Brazil (two), Russia (one) and South Africa (one).

Among the top 20 slots, however, five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been named. Among the top 200 positions, there are 71 Chinese universities; China is followed by Russia (53). Yet, among the top 50 institutions, only seven Russian ones figure, fewer than China (21), Brazil (10) and India (nine). "China is the most likely of the BRICS nations to achieve its goal of developing world-class universities," said Quacquarelli Symonds.

Ben Sowter, head of research at Quacquarelli Symonds, said, "Indian universities have been struggling to keep pace with the increasing demand for university education from the country's vast young population. There are frequent calls for the country's complex higher education system to be reformed and for universities to be more transparent."

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was presented a copy of the rankings.

IIT-Kharagpur has a higher proportion of staff with doctorate degrees than any other university in BRICS countries. Another three Indian institutions are named among the top five on this parameter. On overall staffing levels, Manipal University was the only Indian university among the top 100.

University of Delhi beat University of Calcutta to become the highest-ranked general institution, thanks to improvements in staffing levels and research citations. "The competitiveness of the country's universities on the world stage has become a major issue in India. Smriti Irani, the new minister responsible for universities, has set a target of increasing spending on education to six per cent of GDP (gross domestic product), against the current figure of about four per cent. In return, she will expect universities to improve and align their courses more closely with the jobs market," Quacquarelli Symonds said in a press statement.

Karthick Sridhar, vice-chairman, Indian Centre for Assessment and Accreditation, said: "While it is sad to note India's absence in the top 10 in the QS University Rankings: BRICS 2014, going by the excitement created by the new government, we believe 2015 will paint a different story."

While India plans further investment on improving its higher education systems, China is clearly leading the way among BRICS nations. "The development of Chinese higher education through the past 20 years has been nothing short of extraordinary," said Sowter, adding, "Universities such as Tsinghua and Peking have now established themselves among the world's major producers of scientific research."

Since 2008, China has increased its research and development funding by an average of 18 per cent a year. Its 'C9 League' institutions have been earmarked as challengers to the US 'Ivy League'; six of these made it to the Quacquarelli Symonds rankings.

Russia has announced plans to meet its target of having five of its universities in the global top 100 by 2020, while India has ambitions to establish 14 world-class universities under the government's 'brain gain' policy.

"The Ministry of Human Resource Development, under the new minister, must mandate IITs and elite institutions to focus more on research, attract global talent and aspire for higher rankings and continue to shine a light of excellence on the global scale," Sridhar said.