The Centre for World University Rankings (CUWR) released the 2024 edition of the Global 2000 list on May 13. 65 institutes from India made it to the list with IIM Ahmedabad topping the list amongst its Indian counterparts, standing at a rank of 410.
Similar to last year, none of the Indian institutes made it to the top 400 list. While, IIM Ahmedabad did see a jump of 9 places as compared to last year, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) came second in India standing at 501 rank, followed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay at 568 rank.
However, both IISc as well as IITB have slipped from their previous position of 494 and 554 respectively. Not only these two but according to the report, 33 Indian Universities have declined from their previous positions.
The major reason behind this, according to the CUWR report, is the lack of government funding in Indian universities. Indian Universities are unable to compete with their global counterparts because of the lack of investment in research and education. The report also talks about the possibility of Indian Universities slipping in ranks even further in future.
Dr. Nadim Mahassen, President of the Center for World University Rankings said, “It is clear that India’s standing in education is under increasing pressure following the rise of higher education systems from around the world. While India’s global share in scientific research grew by a solid 24% in the last five years, this has not translated to comparable success in higher education. Without additional government investment in education as well as research, India’s institutions face the possibility of declining in the future.”
The US continues to dominate the list, with 8 Universities featured in the top 10 and 329 Universities featured in the top 2000. Following behind is China with 324 Universities and Japan with 110 Universities. The UK comes fourth with 94 Universities represented in the list.
Chinese Universities, on the other hand, are seeing a steady rise in the number of Universities in the report mainly because of the increased funding in the education and research sphere.
Harvard University consistently tops the list, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology coming at a close second and Stanford University at the third place.
Commenting on the global picture, Dr Mahassen said, “While this year’s rankings confirm the world-class standing of the US higher education sector, the decline of nearly two-thirds of American institutions is concerning, amid stiff competition from Chinese universities. The overall slide of US institutions mirrors those of UK, Russian, and Japanese universities, while France saw improvements as a result of the growing number of mergers between its institutions. China’s remarkable rise is due to heavy investment in research and development, and recruitment of talented researchers in classified areas, such as semiconductors, from the US and elsewhere through the Qiming program. With Chinese universities challenging their Western counterparts, American and European institutions cannot afford to be complacent.”
The Center for World University Rankings grades universities on four factors without relying on surveys and university data submissions: education (25%), employability (25%), faculty (10%), and research (40%). This year, 62 million outcome-based data points were analyzed for the rankings.
