Global higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released the QS World University Rankings (QSWUR) 2024 which featured 45 Indian universities - a significant improvement from 41 varsities last year.
IIT Bombay emerged as India’s highest-ranked institute at 147th position, which is the first time in 8 years an Indian institution broke into the top 150. The milestone has only been shared by the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore when it was ranked 147th in 2016.
“Excellence in teaching and research is the key driving point for IIT Bombay. Our efforts lie in providing an ambience and infrastructure that is conducive to achieving excellence by our students and faculty. Achieving higher rank is just a byproduct and is never a goal by itself. I am sure IIT Bombay still has miles to go and we are walking,” said IIT Bombay Director, Subhasis Chaudhari, who lauded the institute’s rise from rank 172 in QSWUR 2023.
‘IIT Bombay torchbearer of Indian higher education,’ says QS
While highlighting the fact that IIT Bombay generated 1,43,800 citations from 15,905 academic papers, registering a research growth of approximately 17%, QS called the institute a ‘torchbearer’ for Indian higher education.
“IIT-B emerges as the new torchbearer for Indian higher education. IIT Bombay’s impressive trajectory of consistent improvements in research quality and reputation has facilitated its rise to prominence. Over the past five years, it has propelled its employer reputation ranking from 102nd to 69th and improved its Citations per Faculty rank from 226th to 133rd. However, the institution’s internationalisation metrics still require enhancement to fully realise its potential as a globally diverse institution,” the official statement said.
IISC’s poor performance due to change in weightage
Being the seventh-best-represented country in the world and the third-best in Asia, India saw only two universities make it to the top 200 compared to three last year. Apart from IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi was ranked 197th globally with IISC Bangalore witnessing a significant drop from rank 155 last year to 225 this year.
“The Indian Institute of Science (225th) experienced a lower rank in the reset methodology, partly due to the revised weightage assigned to its faculty-to-student ratio, which is one of its strengths. This edition assigns 50% less weight to this indicator,” the QS said in the statement.
India’s top 10, four new varsities in QS Rankings this year
Apart from IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IISC Bangalore, IIT Kharagpur (271), IIT Kanpur (278), IIT Madras (285), IIT Guwahati (364), IIT Roorkee (369), Delhi University (407), Anna University (427), IIT Indore (454), University of Madras (526), and IIT BHU Varanasi (571) have gained individual positions in the coveted rankings.
Four new Indian universities: the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Chitkara University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, and the Indian Statistical Institute, were also featured in the rankings this year.
New Delhi best represented Indian city
Among cities, Delhi has fared the best with seven institutions followed by Chennai with 5 varsities, Kolkata with three, and Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Bhubaneswar having two universities each.
"I'd like to congratulate Indian universities on their ever-improving performance. We've rated 2900 institutions for this year's ranking system, and 45 Indian universities are appearing in the ranking. That is a 297% increase over the last nine years. So really continuous, steady improvement by Indian universities," stated Nunzio Quacquarelli, Founder & CEO, QS.
NEP hailed by QS
Jessica Turner, QS Chief Executive, credited the National Education Policy (NEP) behind India’s determination to adapt and modernise its education system.
“It’s an important step towards fostering a learning environment that prepares future-ready students. Focusing on sustainability, global engagement, and employability is vital for India’s higher education landscape. These elements will not only shape future institutions but also underpin their relevance and success,” said Turner.
IIMS, B-schools no show in QS Rankings 2024
Though IITs have become a significant part of global rankings over the past few years, many prominent Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and B-schools have not made a mark in the QS rankings. Though the reasons aren’t clear, one IIM official indicated that since IIMs are seen as institutes of national importance with a focus on the Business field they would not fulfil the criteria for University rankings.
“Because we are centrally funded business schools and focus on one particular field, IIMs usually don’t participate in global university rankings,” said the official, who didn’t wish to be named.
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies - School of Business Management (NMIMS-SBM) Dean Dr. Prashant Mishra, on the other hand, believes the institute could participate in future QS rankings.
“We do participate in international rankings such as FT global MiM rankings. We are actively evaluating the QS methodology and will surely consider participation at an appropriate time,” Dr. Mishra added.
World’s best institutes from US, UK, as three new parameters introduced
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford are the top three universities globally in QS Rankings 2024. Harvard University comes at number four, Stanford University at five, Imperial College London at six, ETH Zurich at seven, National University of Singapore (NUS) at eight, UCL at nine, and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) at tenth spot.
QS introduced three new parameters this year - sustainability, employment outcomes, and international research network, all having a weightage of 5%. These additions were made to the already existing six parameters such as academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student-to-faculty ratio, the proportion of international faculty, and the proportion of international students.
