Harvard top world university, no Indian varsity in list

Harvard University of the US has remained number one in a global ranking of 100 most prestigious education institutions, followed by Britain's University of Cambridge and Oxford. None the Indian universities featured in the list.

According to the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2015, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the US was pushed to the fourth spot by the University of Oxford, and Stanford University was pushed to the fifth spot by the University of Cambridge. Japan's University of Tokyo led Asia's charge at the 12th spot.

London and Paris were the two cities with the maximum number of the top universities, with five universities each featuring in the list.

As far as countries were concerned, the US confirmed its supremacy, taking eight of the top 10 positions and 43 of the top 100 places -- down from 46 last year followed by Britain, which has 12 such universities -- up from 10 last year and nine in 2013.

While most of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations made their mark, Indian universities failed to make it to the rankings, the study said.

"It is really a matter of concern that a country of India's great intellectual history and its huge and growing economic power does not have a single university that is regarded by academics globally as being among the world's most prestigious," said Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings.

"Brazil, Russia and China, the other "BRIC" nations, all have at least one top-100 university in this prestigious list. It is time India gave more support to its leading universities to ensure that they can compete on a world stage," added Baty.

At the 25th spot, Russia's Lomonosov Moscow State University achieved its highest position yet, while Brazil's University of Sao Paulo jumped from the 81-90 group to the 51-60 band.

China too has gained ground as its top institution, Tsinghua University, rose 10 places to 26th, while Peking University too moved up nine places to reach the 32nd spot.

The 2015 World Reputation Rankings are based on 10,507 responses from 142 countries conducted between December 2014 and January 2015. In all, 21 countries are represented in the list.

The poll attracted almost 70,000 responses from more than 150 countries in five annual rounds since the first survey in 2010.