US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University topped the list of the world’s top 200 university rankings. None of the Institutions of India figured even in the top 100.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, the country’s premier institution, comes in way down at No 222, dropping from 212 last year, in the ‘QS World University Rankings’ released on Tuesday.
The list is dominated By MIT at the top, Harvard University is adjudged at the second place and Britain’s Cambridge University has been pushed to no: 3
The annual rankings take into account the subject range, research results and academic reputation offered by 3,000 institutions internationally. A close scrutiny on the ranking has more bad news for India. Even though the IITs figure in the list of the world’s top 800 institutes, majority of them have actually fallen in ranking in 2013 compared to the last years ranking.
In the list of the top 50 universties in Asia, IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay come in at 38 and 39 followed by IIT Kanpur at 51 and IIT Roorkee at 66.
Ben Sowter, head of research at QS says: “The stable performance of Indian institutions is a reflection on the country’s efforts to internationalize its higher education system. However, it’s clear that more efforts are needed in the area if the country’s institutions wish to feature more prominently at the top of global rankings. ”
Poor research, minimal publication of articles, absence of quality teaching and educational infrastructure are some of the prominent factors which are responsible for deteriorating education levels in Indian universities says Vishnu saraf,IIM alumina.
Another factor that has been the undoing of our academic institutions is the blatant and rampant practice of rote-learning not just at primary or secondary levels but very much at higher levels, too says Anuj a student at IIT Mumbai.
No wonder given such hurdles Indian higher education institutions find themselves hobbling on global academic platform. Not only are we constantly failing while our neighboring competitors are making rapid and giant strides of improvement in education and learning .our government has done little to boost the quality of education in Indian universities as they are busy sorting the political issues and there is little concern for education points out Mrinalini a PhD scholar at Delhi university.
Indian Higher Education institutions, especially the Universities are in dire crisis and there is very little being done to reform them. Any conversation about higher education reform still revolves around structures, regulations and procedures say Sarthak from IIT Gandhi nagar.
As Indian universities continue to fail their students, they will see more of the creamy layer go away to different countries for higher education hence Brain drain. To become relevant and respected again, Indian Higher Education will need to take a good hard look at itself and design its reinvention.
Compared to global trends, our record in developing comprehensive universities is abysmal. Why do we shy away from seeding comprehensive universities with both undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, and both liberal and professional courses? Strengthening undergraduate education is vital. All the undergraduate degree courses in natural sciences, humanities and social sciences need to be of four-year duration — bringing them on par with the other professional degrees. Poor mathematical and computational skills and low language proficiency are major weaknesses in our undergraduate degrees.
We should make it national policy to stop opening new research-only institutes, except in technology intensive areas like space and nuclear energy. The mandate for institutes of higher learning should be both teaching and research says Professor Guru Parth ,a retd Professor who is now guiding the government on policies in various universities.
Asian countries are mostly busy fighting issues such as over population ,poverty, unemployment, inflation, basic amenities. Political compulsions leads to prioritization of problems of less importance in long term that overshadow more important issues such as striving for excellence in higher education. More funds in these countries are allocated to defense and subsidies than to higher education. Root cause of most problems is illiteracy but education is less prioritized area.