The latest edition (11th) of the QS World University Rankings by Subject has brought good news for India’s education sector. 25 programs offered by Indian higher education institutions have secured a position among the top 100 global rankings in their respective subject categories.
QS World University Rankings: An Overview
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a renowned global career and education network. This organization successfully implements comparative data collection and analysis methods, highlighting the strengths of various institutions worldwide. The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication that ranks universities globally on an overall and subject basis.
The rankings are based on six parameters: Academic Reputation (40%), Employer Reputation (10%), Faculty/Student Ratio (20%), Citations per faculty (20%), International Faculty Ratio (5%), and International Student Ratio (5%).
QS World University Rankings by Subject
The subject-wise rankings are calculated based on four key parameters. These include academic reputation, employer reputation, research impact (citations per paper), and the productivity of an institution’s research faculty.
Global leaders in these rankings include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT -USA) and Harvard (USA) with Russia and China seeing their best-ever performances.
India’s Performance in the Rankings
In the 2021 QS’s global university performance comparison, the performance of 253 programs at 52 Indian higher education institutions across 51 academic disciplines was assessed. The number of Indian universities/institutes in the top 100 subject rankings increased from 8 to 12 this year.
The institutions making it to the top 100 include IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IISC Bangalore, IIT Guwahati, IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, JNU, Anna University, University of Delhi and OP Jindal University.
Subject-wise Distribution
Out of the 25 globally ranked Indian programs, 17 belong to engineering. IIT Bombay has earned several top 100 positions, followed closely by IIT Madras’s Petroleum Engineering programme which ranked at the 30th position worldwide.
The Institutions of Eminence (IoE), a government initiative, remains significantly better-represented in the rankings than the private ones. However, OP Jindal Global University broke into the top-100 for law (76th), setting a milestone as the only top-100 result achieved by a private IoE.
India’s Research Impact in Environmental Science
India holds a strong position in global environmental science research, ranking 5th following Germany, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This indicates India’s significant contribution to this field of research.
Challenges for the Indian Higher Education Sector
Despite these achievements, challenges remain. The increasing demand for high-quality tertiary education is one of the main hurdles. Last year’s National Education Policy (NEP) recognized this and set an ambitious target of a 50% gross enrolment ratio by 2035. However, there has been a slight decrease in the number of Indian programs featuring across 51 subject rankings, from 235 to 233 over the last year.
Private institutions have shown progress this year, underscoring the positive role of well-regulated private provision in strengthening India’s higher education sector.
National Institutional Ranking Framework
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education) established the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in September 2015. This framework ranks institutions across the country based on parameters such as Teaching, Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practice; Graduation Outcomes; Outreach and Inclusivity; and Perception.
