Need to evolve India-specific ranking system for univs: Modi

With no Indian institute figuring in the top 10 list of QS BRICS 2014 University Rankings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today favoured evolving an independent India-specific ranking of institutes.
Modi emphasised the need for India to evolve an independent 'India Ranking' metric for universities as the existing systems are skewed towards the western nations, said a government statement.
Such ranking metric can also involve the SAARC nations, the PM suggested.
The first copy of the 'QS University Rankings: BRICS 2014' featuring the top 200 varsities was presented to the PM by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, in which six institutes of China figured among the top 10. The top slot was occupied by Tsinghua University of China.

The report, however, reflected a growing interest among the Indian institutes to be ranked among the best in the world.
Twenty Indian institutes feature in the BRICS 2014 ranking, with Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) occupying the top slots among the Indian institutes.

IIT Delhi made it to the 13th place, followed by IIT Bombay at 15th place and IIT Kanpur at the 17th place.
IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Roorkee were placed at 17th, 20th and 37th place respectively.
China had six of the top 10 places, followed by Brazil with two institutes and Russia and South Africa with one each.

The prestigious IIT Kharagpur has a higher proportion of PhDs among its staff than any university in the five countries.
On overall staffing levels, only Manipal University appears in the top 100 among the universities of the BRICS countries.
Other educational institutions from India in the list include University of Mumbai, University of Madras, Banaras Hindu University, Manipal University and Birla Institute of Technology and Science.
University of Pune, Calcutta University, Delhi University, Allahabad University, Amity University, Anna University and Punjab University also figure in the ranking list.