world

Updated: Sep 12, 2019 01:56 IST

More Indian education institutions figured in the latest global ranking released on Wednesday, but the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which was the only Indian entry in the top 300 last year, slipped into the 301-350 group due to a “significant fall” in its research citation impact.

The Times Higher Education’s 2020 edition of its World University Rankings of 1,300 universities in 92 countries shows 56 Indian institutions (up from 49 last year), making India the fifth most-represented country in the list and the third in Asia behind Japan and China .

The University of Oxford retains the top spot for the fourth year, while the California Institute of Technology rises from fifth to second. The University of Cambridge, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology drop one place to third, fourth and fifth respectively.

The Indian Institute of Science tops the Indian universities on the list but now shares this position with the Indian Institute of Technology - Ropar, after the former dropped into the 301-350 bracket (from the 251-300 cohort last year).

IISc’s slip in the ranking is due to what list compilers said “a significant fall in its citation impact score offsetting improvements in research environment, teaching environment and industry income”.

“It is the first time that an Indian university has not featured in the top 300 of the ranking since 2012, when just a single institution from the country, the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, was ranked”, the Times Higher Education (THE) said.

The Indian Institute of Technology - Ropar pushed Indian Institute of Technology - Indore, which remains in the 351-400 band, into third place.

Overall, seven Indian universities fall into a lower band this year,

The best Indian institutions are generally characterised by relatively strong scores for teaching environment and industry income, but perform poorly when it comes to international outlook in comparison to both regional and international counterparts, the compilers said.

Ellie Bothwell, THE rankings editor, said: “India has a huge amount of potential in global higher education, given its rapidly growing youth population and economy and use of English-language instruction.

“However, it is disappointing to see the country fall out of the top 300 of the rankings this year, with only a small number of institutions registering progress.”

“The Indian government has strong ambitions to boost the global standing of its top universities and attract foreign students, academics and research collaboration.

“It now needs to back up these aspirations with high levels of investment — or risk declining further amid increasing global competition, especially from other parts of Asia,”Bothwell said.