The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has retained the top position among Indian institutes in the latest round of Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, which has been boycotted by most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for the third consecutive year over transparency concerns.
While it is first among Indian institutions, overall, the IISc is placed in the 251-300 band. Globally, the University of Oxford has emerged as the best institute among 1,799 universities from 104 countries, according to a statement issued by THE.
The second position among Indian institutions has been taken by the Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences (351-400 overall), which made its debut in the rankings. The Himachal Pradesh-based private university is ranked 96th in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022 in the universities category.
Last year, the second place in the Indian category had been bagged by IIT Ropar, which has in this year’s edition of THE slipped to the sixth position, and to the 501-600 band globally from last year’s 351-400.
Among the other IITs which took part in the rankings, IIT Indore is placed in the 601-800 band, followed by IIT Patna and IIT Gandhinagar in the 801-1000 band.
In total, eight IITs feature in this year’s rankings by THE, its spokesperson told The Indian Express.
It was not immediately clear as to how many IITs participated in the rankings process. The complete list will be released Wednesday.
The parameters based on which the institutes are ranked are: teaching (30%), research (30%), citations (30%), international outlook (7.5%), and industry outcome (2.5%). In teaching and research, 15% weightage each is based on a “reputational survey”.
The spokesperson added that the organisation held talks with the “IITs (and other institutions) on several occasions and continue to welcome discussions with them” on ironing out the differences.
“As mentioned, we have given a detailed explanation of our rankings methodology, and have listened to their input. In the next edition of the ranking, to be launched next year, we have incorporated some of their suggestions,” the spokesperson said.
However, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi maintained that the rankings suffer from a lack of transparency. IIT-B director Prof. Subhasis Chaudhury said, “There is no improvement in the transparency factor in their process. Directly a rank is allotted to the institute. We should know what the process is. There is no reason to participate without knowing what exactly we are participating in.”
The last time major IITs participated in THE rankings was in 2019 — the report (released as THE 2020 list) had placed IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi in the 401-500 overall band, behind the Ropar and Indore campuses.
Courtesy : The Indian Express