Forty-two Indian institutions figure in this year’s list of the world’s best universities, put out by The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018. But the highest ranked, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, weighs in only in the 251-300 range. The IITs at Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras follow, though all their ranks have fallen, some significantly. The table of 1,102 institutions is topped by two UK universities. While Oxford University remains in No 1 spot for the second year in a row, University of Cambridge has jumped from fourth to second place. California Institute of Technology, which was No 2, now shares third place with Stanford University. Overall, European institutions occupy half of the top 200 places, with the Netherlands and Germany joining the UK as the most-represented countries. Italy, Spain and the Netherlands each have new number ones. Though 62 US institutions still make the top 200, against last year’s 63, 29 of them have fallen in rank — a direct outcome of drops in their research income per academic staff member and doubts regarding future levels of federal research income under the Trump administration.
Teaching, research
A notable trend is the continued rise of China, home to two universities in the top 30: Peking and Tsinghua. Seen to have improved in terms of their reputations for teaching and research this year, these two Beijing varsities now outrank several prestigious institutions in the Europe and the US. Almost all Chinese universities have improved, indicating that the country’s commitment to investments is paying off. Asia’s top university, the National University of Singapore, has risen two places to joint 22nd, along with the University of Toronto and now outranks Carnegie Mellon University. Meanwhile, though Australia has maintained its performance, its position may suffer if the government goes ahead with plans to cut funding by 2.5 per cent, which would result in an A$2.8 billion (£1.7 billion) loss in income across the sector.
Balanced comparisons
In all, 77 countries feature in the table. According to the Times Higher Education website: “It is the only global university performance table to judge research-intensive universities across all of their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. We use 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.” The rankings for 2018 have been subject to independent audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), making these the only global university rankings to receive full, independent scrutiny of this nature.
Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
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