Archive for the ‘Indian Universities’ Category
10 Indian universities in list of top 100 in BRICS countries
India has claimed 10 of the top 100 places in Times Higher Education’s BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2014 — the world’s first ranking of universities in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as 17 other emerging economies.
In this much smaller, more level-playing field, with only 22 countries surveyed, India has predictably fared much better, with its highest-ranked institution Panjab University coming in at joint 13th place.
In sharp contrast, India had absolutely no representation in the top 200 of the Times Higher Education 2013-14 World University Rankings. Only five universities made it to the top 400, with Panjab University only making it to the group of universities ranked between 226th and 250th place.
In Times Higher Education’s BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2014, Indian institutions make up 10% of the list, including nine in the top 50 places. Panjab University, the alma mater of prime minister Manmohan Singh, leads the way, followed by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Kharagpur (30th), Kanpur (34th), Delhi (37th), Roorkee (37th), Guwahati (46th) and Madras (47th). Jadavpur University, Aligarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University are in the 47th, 50th and 57th spots, respectively.
China’s Peking University and Tsinghua University take the top two spots in the overall rankings. University of Cape Town, South Africa, comes in at third place, followed by Taiwan’s National Taiwan University and Turkey’s Booazici University in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
China emerges as the frontrunner in the rankings with 23 institutions in the table. Taiwan comes next in terms of maximum representatives on the list (21), followed by India with 10.
“This is a strong showing for India: only China and Taiwan have more universities in the top 100. This highlights the nation’s real strengths in competition with countries that offer fair comparisons,” said Phil Baty, Editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings, in a statement. He added, however, that a country of India’s enormous size, growing wealth and rich intellectual history should aspire to more.
In a written response to ET, Baty said that the first step towards moving up in the rankings is to encourage a much better culture of data collection and sharing among India’s universities. “At this stage we have been working very much at the national, government level, to raise awareness of our data collection system… and we have seen a dramatic improvement in our engagement with individual institutions, which are now much more willing and ready to share data.”
He added that from the data they already have, it is clear that Indian institutions across the board need to improve their research output — research quality needs to improve. “There are encouraging moves afoot to address this, especially increased funding and more strategically-focused funding,” he said.
Source: The Economic Times, December 5, 2013
Harvard, MIT among top world varsity rankings; Indian institutions lag
Harvard leads the pack of top 100 institutions in the 2013 World Reputation Rankings by Times Higher Education Magazine. No Indian university has made it to the list. But if the rankings were to list the top 200, IISc Bangalore, would be 130th. IIT-Bombay would be in 192nd place.
The other three BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia and China, are on the list, though. The rankings are based on the largest worldwide invitation-only survey of academic opinion, with the 2013 results culled out of 16,639 responses from senior published academics.
Indian Scene
In its latest World Reputation Rankings for 2013, Times Higher Education magazine, (THE) UK, for the first time, has released an India top-10 list. According to THE India Reputation Rankings, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, is in the first position, followed by IIT-Bombay, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Delhi respectively. The University of Delhi takes the sixth place — the first full-fledged university on the list.
The reputation rankings, a spin-off of the annual THE World University Rankings, are based on subjective, but expert judgement of senior, published academics. As to why an India-specific ranking, Phil Baty, editor, THE Rankings, in an exclusive interview to The Times of India, says that the world of higher education is interested in the country’s development, and its huge potential, and there is a strong demand from within India for data, which helps people to map the rapidly changing higher education landscape. IIT-Madras (7), IIT-Kharagpur (8), Aligarh Muslim University (9) and University of Hyderabad (10) are the other names, which feature in the list. 
However, globally, not a single Indian institution has made it to the top 100 of the ‘World Reputation Rankings 2013.’ While Harvard University tops the list, it is followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University.
THE revealed that if the rankings were to list more than top-100, IISc, Bangalore would be 130th, IIT-Bombay in the 192nd place, with all other Indian institutions falling outside the global top-200.
How is India faring vis-a-vis the global education market? Baty points out that India needs to improve research capacity in universities, with better co-ordination of university research and industrial research, besides addressing the issue of low spending per student.”As a country with a rapidly growing economy and a fine tradition of scholarship, it is a cause for concern that India does not have institutions that are sufficiently highly regarded by international scholars that they feature among the global top 100,” said Phil Baty, editor, Times Higher Education Rankings, in a statement.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013 powered by Thomson Reuters are the only global university performance tables to judge world class universities across all of their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The top universities rankings employ 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.
For the full rankings, visit www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings.
Source: The Economic Times & The Times of India, March 5, 2013
8 university tie-ups picked for Obama-Singh awards
A series of institutional partnerships aimed at propelling research and training in the field of energy security, climate change, agriculture sciences and health services are part of the Obama-Singh Initiative announced recently. As part of the bilateral education partnership, eight collaborative efforts have been awarded. Among the India-led partnerships include tie-ups between Rutgers University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to establish a national vocational school in India that will eventually train up to 1 million people every year.
The vocational school has been designed to assist up to 80% Indian graduates considered unemployable by multinational companies and to increase the number of young people taking part in formal vocational education and training (just 4% of the population). For India, the most pressing need is to reform its higher education and widen the skill development system, developing scalable solutions that can rapidly enhance the quality and quantity of educational opportunities available to the 550 million Indians under the age of 25.
US-led partnerships include University of Montana and Bangalore University addressing impact of climate change and changes in socio-economic structure on traditional agriculture and development of sustainable communities among indigenous populations. Cornell University with University of Agricultural Sciences , Dharwad and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, will work on implementing reformed curriculum in emerging areas of agriculture and food security. University of Michigan has tied up with Maharashtra University of Health Sciences to jointly develop a masters degree for health profession faculty in the US and India. The programme will include public health, nursing, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and Indian systems of medicine.
Other India-led partnerships were between Mahatma Gandhi University and Brown University, Duke University and Plymouth State University to study an interdisciplinary and community oriented approach toward sustainable development. Banaras Hindu University will partner with University of Pittsburgh to research the paradigm shift in energy scenario for the 21st century toward renewable energy sources required for both India and the US. While IIT-Kanpur is expected to join hands with Virginia Tech for an international programme on sustainable infrastructure development, its Delhi counterpart will work on resource building for ecosystem and human health risk assessment with special reference to microbial contamination with Drexel University.
According to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), each project will receive an award of $250,000 that can be utilized over the three year grant period, with the aim of encouraging mutual understanding , educational reform and economic growth. PM Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama had committed $5 million each as part of the endeavour to build an enhanced India-US partnership in education.
Apart from the Obama-Singh Initiative, India has also planned to establish 100 community colleges. It has also announced the C V Raman Fellowship with the first tranche of 300 junior faculty members to be placed for post-doctoral research in American higher education institutions in October. About 10,500 faculty members will be sent over five years.
Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), June 26, 2012
Ambedkar varsity offers new courses
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University in Delhi is going to launch eight new programmes from this year, including its first management programme. The university will start the sale of application forms for the 2012-13 session from May 25. The last date for submission of applications is June 20, 2012. “We are introducing an MBA course with a focus on public policy and social entrepreneurship, MA programmes with specialization in visual art, performance art, cinematic art and literary art and an MA programme in education, among others,” said Shyam Menon, the Vice-Chancellor of the university.
Source: The Times of India, April 10, 2012
India priority for Irish varsities
India is a priority for Irish universities looking to draw students from across the world, said Ms. Orla Battersby, Head, Education In Ireland. Speaking to Indian mediapersons visiting Dublin at the invitation of the Dublin Airport Authority, she said the country is promoting post-graduate and PhD programmes in India.
Why Ireland?
The country’s safety scores (Ireland was ranked 11th in the Global Peace Index 2011) will be attractive to parents, and students can be assured of a very personal teaching experience, she said. Pointing to companies such as Google, Apple, Pfizer, Citi and IBM being present in the country, she claimed: “These companies don’t just focus on our science and technology graduates – their CEOs also highly rate the Irish-educated graduates in the arts and humanities, who they regard as having the creativity, collaboration, flexibility and other core skills necessary for modern business.”
This year seven universities and a ministerial delegation will visit the country to acquaint students with studying in Ireland. Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) and University of Pune are among those which are conducting research projects with Irish educational institutions.
Students can opt for flexible approaches to international programmes such as blended courses and one-year exchanges. International graduates can remain in Ireland for a year to find a job or develop a business idea, Ms. Battersby said.
Education costs
A note from Education In Ireland says a Masters could cost between €7,500 and €22,000 per annum, while a PhD could cost €6,000 to €9,000. Living costs range from €6,000 to €9,000. To a query, she said there were more efforts by the Irish government to focus scholarships on a smaller number of countries, of which India will be given top preference.
Currently, about 1,000 Indian students study in Ireland. About 33 per cent study business and administration, 26 per cent computing and engineering-related courses and 18 per cent sciences. Fifty-seven per cent are post-graduate students.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, January 19, 2012
Investment crucial for establishing world-class universities: THE
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE WUR) was released last week. Phil Baty, editor, THE WUR, talks about the key findings.
What do you feel has caused Harvard Universitys slip after eight years to the second position and California Institute of Technology bagging the number one position?
The differences at the peak of the table are small. California Institute of Technology has made it to number one this year, because it performed almost faultlessly across all indicators, marginally improving on Harvard with regards to research volume, income and reputation, and research influence. The most substantial influence on California Institute of Technology’s success this year has been the income it attracts from industry. Indeed, with the race to the top being so neck-and-neck, simple factors can become huge differentiators. In this instance, money has made all the difference.
India is represented in the bubbling under section by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Do you think India possesses the potential to make rapid advances?
If the Indian government stays committed to higher education, with a focus on funding,research and teaching all things that count in the THE WUR, I see no reason why we won’t see an Indian institution in the top 200 in the very near future. We are also now seeing a consistently increasing number of academic publications from India each year, so before too long we expect to see more Indian institutions in the rankings.
What is it about India that makes it lag behind in almost all world university rankings, while smaller and developing nations are coming up in the list?
One thing that could be said to be holding India back is that its traditional institutions, such as the University of Mumbai, are too large some with half a million students on their campuses and in their affiliated undergraduate colleges. This does not allow for effective management and focus. Indian universities also seem to be suffering from having been under-funded for decades and with no formal evaluation system for academic staff – where people are promoted on the basis of seniority – it is taking a while for the recently renewed efforts to improve India’s higher education system to show effect in real terms.
Does this year’s ranking establish any new trend that you would like to mention?
In today’s world of higher education, it seems it is all about money. Indeed, if we look at the US it is clear that this year its institutions have suffered the effects of the global financial crisis. As funding cuts start to kick in, some of the prestigious public US institutions such as Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles and UC San Diego have all witnessed a drop in real terms. In short, investment is crucial in order to produce world-class universities.
Source: Education Times (The Times of India), October 10, 2011
No Indian university in world’s top 200
Not a single Indian university — not even the celebrated IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) — figure in the Times Higher Education magazine’s ranking of the world’s top 200 universities, with American varsities dominating the list.
US institutions have grabbed seven spots in the top 10 despite President Barack Obama warning American students of stiff competition from their counterparts in India and China. Three British universities, Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, continue to make the cut with a university in China also making the grade. The magazine places 75 US universities in the top 200. UK has 32 universities in the list, followed by Germany (12), the Netherlands (12) and Canada (9).
The list of top 200 includes universities in Taiwan, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa and China, but this year repeats earlier trends about India — no Indian university is deemed good enough to be included in the elite list, inspite of India claiming to have substantially increased its spending on higher education in recent years.
The top 10 in the list of 200 universities are: California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Oxford, Princeton University, University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley.
Britain’s Universities Minister David Willetts said the list showed that relative to its size, the UK’s university system was the “world’s best-performing”. “With as many as seven million students predicted to be studying outside their home country within the next few years, and with international research collaboration at the top of government agendas, these world university rankings are more important than ever,” said Ann Mroz, editor of Times Higher Education.
Source: The Indian Express, October 7, 2011
UNSW: ‘Want to partner Indian varsities, not compete against them’
University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, is exploring partnership opportunities with top Indian educational institutions and businesses. While it does not intend to open an India campus or offer tailored corporate degrees, it is looking at research avenues in collaboration with centres of academic excellence in the country. On his recent visit to India to meet leading institutions and government representatives, UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor, Fred Hilmer, spoke to Piyali Mandal & Nivedita Mookerji about student safety on Australian campuses, competition from other countries in the race for being a popular overseas education destination and visa reforms, among other things. Edited excerpts:
Do you think the recent incidents of attacks on Indian students in Australia have had an adverse impact on the latter as an education destination?
The media reports were quite damaging. They were based on relatively few incidents. The negative sentiment is unfortunate. When you are here, Australia is invisible. You see it as one place. However, in reality, it is a very big and diverse country. At our campus, we have had no issues regarding students’ safety. A word-of-mouth from the people who have been at our campus is very important. You know, these things happen and you have to live with them. We will have to continue telling our story.
The number was certainly higher earlier. Earlier, India was number four in terms of students’ enrollment. It has now slipped to the fifth spot.
What initiatives have you taken to instill confidence in people vis-à-vis education in Australia?
We are talking to educational institutions, agents and the government here. I hope they will get a better sense of things and realise that Australia is a good place to study. We are working with different government organisations regarding the flow of students back and forth. We have had anumber of conversations. During this visit, I am meeting the secretary of higher education and representatives from the University Grants Commission.
We have worked very closely with the Australian government on the student visa programme. The new recommendations will support high quality students. A favourable student visa programme is a critical part of the Australian policy. There is nothing stronger than the students studying in Australia going back to their country and vice versa.
What is the proportion of Indian students studying in your university on full fee? Do you propose to increase the number of scholarships?
Usually, most students from India are on full fee. Yes, we are looking at increasing the number of scholarships. We would moderately increase these for research programmes.
The US and the UK remain among the most favoured destinations for Indian students. Where does Australia stand in comparison? In addition, do you see any threat from Asian countries like Singapore?
Australia fell back a little after the bad publicity. I think we are seeing strong interest again. Every country has its own problems. I just came back from the UK, which is very troubled. In the US, funding for a number of universities is being cut. Australia has a relatively strong position. Our government is increasing funding for education. Moreover, when you pass out of college, you can get a job in the country. The Australian economy is good; they (students) will not find it difficult to get a job. As far as Singapore is concerned, we do not see it as a threat. Asian students like the experience of studying in Australia. It gives them a truly international experience.
We are an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) style university. So, the bulk of our collaborations would be in science and technology. We have a collaboration with the Prasad Rao Eye Institute. We are meeting officials from the Indian Institute of Science and expect some collaboration there. We are also working on a Masters of Public Health programme in collaboration with the Christian Medical University, Vellore. We had a number of discussions with Kapil Sibal, the education minister. We are also in talks with the IITs and IIMs. We are at an initial stage of discussion with IIM-Ahmedabad, for partnership around our flagship MBA programme.
We plan to start such programmes in the next two-three years.
We will hold discussions with corporate India in November. Our team is setting up a series of meetings with top-end corporate and industry leaders here. We are looking at building internship models. Under these, our students will have access to the corporate across India. However, we will not do any tailored corporate degree. It is very unlikely. We might conduct such courses in partnership with Indian educational institutes, but not with a corporate entity.
We believe in the partnership model. Universities, by nature, are local and we do better when we work with other universities like partners. It is mutually beneficial. Education is not a business. It is not a business market. The sector is generally very heavily regulated. We want to collaborate with universities and not compete against them to get more students.
These are still early days. India and Australia had been a bit off each other’s radar for some time. There is enormous opportunity in the information technology and energy sector, among others. The build-up will come from the history of engagement in education.
If you look at the benefits of pursuing these (competitive reforms) aggressively and holistically, they are very significant. In the late 80s and early 90s, Australia had lower economic growth than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Then, if you look at growth in the early 90s and through the early part of this century — the period we did all the competitive regulation — we grew above them consistently and had inflation below the OECD rate. So, the virtue is dual, that of good growth and low inflation.
You have to have a longterm view. Even as we started the process of reforms in the late 80s, we were able to bring in a lot of the laws only in the early 90s and it took some years. But, if you look back, if you have a 15-20 years’ view, this is probably one of the most significant areas of economic reforms we have undertaken.
The lesson for India is to be patient and stay on course.
Source: Business Standard, September 26, 2011
QS World University Rankings: When will India get to cheer?
India does not appear in the Top 200 of the recently released QS World University Rankings. Even as the US and the UK continue to dominate the international rankings scene, India’s highest-ranked institution IIT-Delhi stands at 218th position - 16 places down from last year’s 202nd place.
Although several top US institutions have been hit by reduced endowments and budget restrictions, its supremacy continues with 13 of the US universities featuring in the top 20, six of them in the top 10. Apart from Harvard, the other five US universities among the Top 10 are: MIT (3), Yale University (4), University of Chicago (8), University of Pennsylvania (9) and Columbia University (10).
This neck-to-neck competition between the US and the UK is not replicated when India’s performance is compared with other Asian countries. While India is yet to secure a place in the top 200, other Asian countries such as China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan sit comfortably among the Top 100 of the rankings table, led by University of Hong Kong (22) and University of Tokyo (25).
Indian universities have disappointed this year. All the universities including the star performers of the country, the IITs have dropped down several ranks. IIT-Delhi (was ranked 202, now ranks 218); IIT-Bombay (was 187, now 225); IIT-Madras (was 262, now 281); IIT-Kanpur (was 249-306); IIT-Kharagpur (was 311, now 341); IIT-Roorkee (was 428, now 438) and IIT-Guwahati (was 501, now 563). The other universities have followed suit University of Delhi (was 371, now 398); University of Mumbai (was 493, now 578); University of Calcutta (was 506, now 649) and University of Pune (was 578, now 661).
India’s weak points? The lack of quality research and internationalisation. But this time, the fall in the rankings is escalated by the fall in all the universities’ academic reputation. The employer reputation of IIT-Bombay, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati and universities of Mumbai, Calcutta and Pune has slid backwards too. For the academic and employer ratings, inputs from as many as 33,000 academics and 16,785 employers from more than 130 countries were taken by QS, the largest surveys of their kind ever conducted.
Source: Hindustan Times (HT Education), September 14, 2011
Cambridge University looking for partnerships in India
Aiming to strengthen its engagement with India, Cambridge University is looking to form high quality partnerships in the areas of drug discovery and disease management. Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, who is on his second visit to India after taking over as Cambridge University Vice-Chancellor last October, is keen on cementing a long-term association with high quality players in India.
In an interview, Borysiewicz said that partnerships are the key to Cambridge remaining a successful university. Responding to a question on whether the university is looking for partnerships in India in any specific areas, he said, “We are particularly in discussions (with Indian entities) in the area of drug discovery… in cancer and in the area of infectious diseases. The university is also in discussions in the area of disease management…,” Borysiewicz noted.
One of the oldest academic institutions in the world, Cambridge University is the alma mater of many famed Indian personalities, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.
He pointed out the university is looking at some partnerships in the areas of drug discovery, apart from having interactions with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Biotechnology. “India has the very best in the world… The purpose behind the visit is to start establishing long-term partnerships,” he said.
At present, there are about 270 active projects between India and Cambridge.
Borysiewicz is the 345th Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and will complete one year in office on October 1. According to him, many issues such as food security and better management of chronic diseases are shared problems of India and the UK. “So, finding shared solutions is going to be important, but the project model can’t give them the time that it takes to develop it… By establishing partnerships, which I am really interested in doing, we try to work together to find solutions,” Borysiewicz said.
To strengthen the ties between Cambridge and India, there are two groups — the Cambridge-India Partnership Advisory Group (CIPAG) and the Cambridge-India Partnership Operational Group (CIPOG).
There are more than 1,000 Cambridge alumni in India and societies operate in six cities — Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune — according to the university’s website.
Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), September 14, 2011
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