Int'l edu ranking body to develop Ind-specific indicators: Min

An internationally-respected ranking body has agreed to draw up an India-specific indicator that would provide parameters for stakeholders and students globally to judge educational institutions in the country, the government said today.
The development comes after the Human Resource Development Ministry approached Times Higher Education (THE) for devising country-specific indicators which would enable a correct assessment of Indian institutes on the global ranking list.
None of the Indian institutes, the IITs included, ranked by the THS and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) surveys figure among the best in the world.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha today, Minister of State for HRD, Shashi Tharoor, said that a committee, constituted by the standing council of IITs, had held meetings with both ranking agencies on the question of rating the country's premier technological institutes.

THE also held a workshop in May of last year where universities and technical colleges, including the IITs and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), were invited.
Tharoor said that his ministry had asked all the IITs, NITs and central universities to appoint a nodal person to coordinate with THE as it develops the India-specific parameters.
Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur had earlier said that the various IITs may compete as a single unit at the international level for a place amongst the best in the global ranking list.