Top Varsities Slipping Down in QS Rankings, MHRD Decides to Probe Into

The Ministry of Human Resource Development decided to look into the matter as the top National Universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and University of Hyderabad (UOH) could not secure the top places at QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) rankings.

The Quacquarelli Symonds ranking is a global ranking system and one of the most prestigious rankings for the universities of high repute. The Ministry of Human Resource had called a meeting last week. The meeting was attended by the eminent officers from various IITs and the vice chancellor and high-rank officials from QS which is a London Based ranking body.

The QS World University scores the Institutes on 6 basic parameters in their ranking, which are academic reputation, faculty-student ratio, employer reputation, international faculty, citations per faculty and international students.

Ramesh Pokhrial Nishank, the minister of MHRD headed the meeting held in the last week. He stated that the top universities of India meet every parameter, still, they have been ranked low and not has been taken into consideration by QS. The union MHRD minister has requested the officials related in this field to be more comprehensive while making the applications to QS.

Only three Indian Universities or Institutes that found the top spots in the top 200 list are, Indian Institute of Science- IISc Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology - IIT Bombay and Indian Institute of Technology - IIT Delhi. IITs situated in Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee and Madras was also listed among the top 400 lists. IIT Guwahati, however, slipped down to 491 points from its previous 472 ranks previous year. The University of Delhi has improved its rank this year by scoring 474 from previous yar’s 487.

Mr Appa Rao Podile, the Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad (UOH) has said that as cited by the QS authority, losing focus from undergraduate courses is the reason to lose the QS Rankings. Contradicting to it, Mr Podile has claimed that the University puts enough importance to the Undergraduate Courses and they have conveyed this message to QS as well. He added that the QS authority is reviewing their decision.

Also Read:IIM Bangalore Secures QS Executive MBA Rankings 2019 Position

Mr Subhasis Chaudhury, the director of IIT Bombay raised questions on the method to calculate the reputation of the Institutes. He said that the QS conducts various surveys to check the reputation of the institutes. He raised the question on the transparency and asks what is the credibility of the survey and who are the people who take part in it. He also expressed his concerns by saying there are not many Indian participants in UK universities to take participation in the surveys.

The MHRD suggested to include more Indian juries in the QS ranking authority to avoid any kind of Bias in the rankings towards the western countries.

Also Read:IIM Calcutta Business Analytics Programme secures 14th Rank in QS World Ranking 2019

The QS global rankings 2020 released in London, has new 50 entrants globally. India-based O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has become the youngest university to mark into top 1,000 ranks in the prestigious rankings. The University was founded in 2009.

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