Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru Placed Among Top 50 in THE’s Asia Universities Ranking

The Times Higher Education (THE) released its Asia University Rankings 2017 on March 16, 2017.The top rank in the Asia University Rankings was attained by the National University of Singapore (NUS) for the second consecutive year.

• According to the 2017 ranking, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has been ranked best Indian University and has been placed at 27th position among the universities in Asia.
• Besides, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay was another Indian university among top 50 placed at 42 position followed by Chennai-based private institute Veltech University at 43.

Asia’s Top 5 Universities in the List

Key Highlights of the Report

This year THE ranked 300 Asian Universities as compared to 200 in previous years.

• From India, 33 universities were named in the list compared to 16 in the previous year among 200. For the first time, India is the third most-represented nation in the list. However, it is still far behind Japan and China.
• The report also showed that, Indian universities had 8 established and 17 new entrants in the top 100.
• IISc Bangalore retained the 27th rank for the second year in a row. Besides, Tamil Nadu-based Veltech University was placed much ahead of several top IITs in India. This is the first time the institution has secured a ranking in the league table.
• IIT Delhi was at No. 54 and IIT Madras at No. 62. IIT Kanpur jumped to the 63rd place in the current year from the 101-110 grouping in 2016.
• The improvement in the Kanpur’s performance was attributed to across the board improvements and a sharp increase in industry income.
• The THE’s report stated that India has been taking steps to improve its top universities global rankings and has also proposed investing money to help its top schools climb the global rankings.
• India has also launched a national ranking framework to create a culture among Indian schools to participate in rankings in a structured way and compete with each other domestically.
• Besides, India’s strong performance is also partly due to country recognition of the importance of participating in global benchmarking exercises.
• The report also stated that several Indian universities have slipped places as compared to their previous positions.
• The University of Calcutta has dropped from the 141-150 band to the 191-200 cohort while Amrita University has fallen from 181-190 to 251
• After the first 100 ranks, THE puts universities in groups and does not give them individual ranks.

About the Asia University Rankings 2017

The Asia University Rankings 2017 ranks 300 institutions compared to 200 in last year. These universities come from 24 countries, including Sri Lanka, Kuwait, and the Philippines for the first time.

• The expansion of the table paves way for some of the lesser-known higher education hubs in the region and reveals the nations that have the capability to become leading university countries in future years, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
• The Asia University Rankings use the same 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators as used in World University Ranking to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.

The performance indicators are grouped into five areas:

1. Teaching (the learning environment)
2. Research (volume, income and reputation)
3. Citations (research influence)
4. International outlook (staff, students and research)
5. Industry income (knowledge transfer)