Six indicators were used to determine the QS WUR 2023–academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international students’ ratio and international faculty ratio.
The ranking of Delhi’s educational institutes, such as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU) and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), dipped in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings (WUR) 2023 which were declared on Friday. While DU’s rank slipped from the 501-510 range to the 521-530 range this year, JNU’s rank slipped from the 561-570 to the 601-650 range and JMI’s rank slipped from the 751-800 range to the 801-1000 range.
Six indicators were used to determine the QS WUR 2023–academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international students’ ratio and international faculty ratio.
Vice-chancellors of central universities in Delhi said that while they’ll work towards improving the ranks, QS needed to refine its assessment mechanism.
According to JNU vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, the institute could not be compared with any other due to its unique model. Pandit said that she had informed the QS founder about the need to make the screening process more inclusive. “I met the founder of QS at Rashtrapati Bhavan recently and told him that they were comparing apples and oranges. We are being compared to Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, which is a research institute, and Indian Institutes of Technology. We are different from other universities and JNU continues to top the National Institutional Ranking Framework,” said Pandit.
While outlining the recent achievements of JNU alumni, she said that QS did not take into account the strides made by the institute to bridge economic and social disparities. “At the Cannes film festival, our student Shaunak Sen’s film won an award. Our student Geetanjali Shree won the International Booker Prize for her book. Jasmin, a Muslim student from a poor family, secured the 36th rank in the UPSC exam. Sarita, another student who used to sell flowers, is all set to pursue a PhD in the US. These achievements are not taken into account by QS. These are stories of transformation. We told QS representatives that they need to take these stories into account,” said Pandit.
Meanwhile, the slip in DU’s rank comes at a time when the varsity is marking its centenary year and its vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh has said that the university’s next goal is to enter the league of the world’s 200 best universities.
Singh said that the ranks were based on data from the past two years and the university was taking steps toward improving its performance. “We are working towards improving the quality of research and appointing a good number of teachers. I’m hopeful that the ranking will improve in the coming years. DU is a good university and our efforts will yield results even though the process is slow,” Singh said.
Ahmad Azeem, JMI’s public relations officer, said that while the institute’s overall score in the QS Rankings had reduced marginally by one point this year, it had translated into an overall reduction in ranking.
“We are happy to note that IITs have gained in rankings this year. We too are determined to improve our rankings. We will analyse our scores and identify areas of concern in consultation with QS,” said Azeem.
IIT Delhi’s rank improved from 185 last year to 174 this year.
He added that while there was scope for improvement in parameters pertaining to international faculty and international student ratio, since these two parameters were not solely under the purview of the university and were linked to policy decisions at the government level.
“There are few areas where it is difficult to evaluate our performance due to a lack of adequate transparency in some parameters of the agency’s assessment process. We feel a better understanding of the ranking process will not only help us know our position in the ranking universe but also act as feedback for further improvement,” said Azeem.
Courtesy – Hindustan Times
