IIT Kharagpur campus. Express photo by Partha Paul IIT Kharagpur campus. Express photo by Partha Paul

In the latest Reuters rankings, only Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — figure at the lowest in the list of the Top 75: Asia’s Most Innovative Universities rankings.

The list identifies the educational institutions that are doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies and help drive the global economy. While the IITs rank 72, the Indian Institute of Science is at 73. Out of the top 20 universities, 17 are from Japan and South Korea.

As per the Reuters.com, the Indian Institutes of Technology is a network of 23 universities which centralise their patent administration, so “it’s not always possible to identify which constituent university was responsible for what research.” As a result, Reuters ranked the entire system as opposed to individual universities.

World-class campuses like IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay may have ranked much higher on the list if “they weren’t grouped in with smaller and newer institutes like IIT Tirupati and IIT Palakkad.”

Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) has topped the list followed by Japan’s University of Tokyo as the most innovative university in Asia. Out of the top 20 universities, 17 are based in Japan and South Korea.

Read: Top 25 Universities in India: India Rankings 2016

Overall, there are 22 Chinese universities on Reuters’ ranking with Beijing-based Tsinghua University at number 13. One of the reasons cited for Chinese universities underperformance is they tend to submit less of their research to international patent authorities.

The ranking is based on a methodology that focuses on academic papers, which indicate basic research performed at a university, and patent filings, which point to an institution’s interest in protecting and commercialising its discoveries.

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