AIIMS, IIT, DU in India’s top 10

NEW DELHI: Three institutions from Delhi are among the top 10 Indian centres for higher learning. All India Institute of Medical Sciences is in third place while Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Delhi University are in fifth and sixth places, respectively. 

The Indian Institute of Science Bangalore has taken number one position on the list of the TimesHigher Education India Reputation Rankings, published alongside the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings. Introduced for the first time, the ranking is based on global academic prestige in teaching and research. 

There are still no Indian institutes in the global top 100. Two Indian institutions in the top 200 are IIT Bombay and IISc. The first five places on the new ranking list are occupied by 'specialist institutes' like IISc, IIT-B, AIIMS, IIK-K and IIT-D respectively. In the sixth place is DU — first full-fledged university on the list. IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, Aligarh Muslim University and University of Hyderabad occupy the remaining four positions in descending order on the list. 

The 2013 edition of rankings are based on the results of a survey of over 16,600 academics from across the globe. They were asked to name a handful of 'best' institutions in their field. The report stated that, among the BRIC nations, India is the only one missing from the world top 100. "As a country with a rapidly growing economy and a fine tradition of scholarship, it is a cause for concern that India does not have any institutions that are sufficiently highly regarded by international scholars... This inaugural India Reputation Ranking not only gives a sense of the pecking order within India but also shows how far its top institutions must travel to join the elite top 100," Phil Baty, rankings editor, said. 

Observing that Indian institutions are not investing in research, former vice-chancellor of DU Deepak Pental said, "We are not fully committed to research in the universities. Research is fragmented, mostly carried out by small and specialized institutions... We are not investing enough in research which is a key factor in rankings. If our universities are creating new knowledge, our curriculum will keep updating which is not happening. We are following a strange model of opting out of the competition. It's not a good situation for the country." 

Source:The Times Of India