A discreet toast, perhaps, but hold the fireworks and confetti. In the latest edition of the reputed Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) University Rankings for Asia, an unprecedented 17 Indian universities and institutions of higher learning from India figure in the top 300. However, only seven of these have made it to the top 100 and none in the top 30.
How is this a cause for celebration and roadmap for improvement? For one, the Britain-based QS Rankings is the third most reputed who's who of universities in the world, after the Times Higher Education and Academic Ranking lists. All three are generally in agreement about the top academic institutions of the world and by continent, so India's largest ever presence on this list is certainly good news.
In the 2013 Asia Rankings, only 11 Indian universities had made it to the list, so this increase, say QS officials, is a sign that the country's best institutions are getting the recognition they deserve internationally.
And yet a lot remains to be done. The highest ranking Indian institution is IIT Delhi at 38, with its Mumbai counterpart close behind at 41, the only two in the top 50. While National University of Singapore, which vies with the best in Europe and the United States tops the rankings for Asia, other institutions known for their faculty, research and taught courses such as University of Hong Kong, Seoul National, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as well as Peking University are also in the top 10 and likely to stay there for a while.
Universities and institutes from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia dominate the top slots and populate most of the top 300 ranks as well. Apart from India, very few other Asian countries have been able to make their mark here, a clear indicator that when it comes to education, these five countries are doing things right and India is making progress. The highest ranking non-Indian South Asian institution is the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, at 106.
The other Indian institutes in the top 100 include IIT Kanpur (52) and IIT Madras (53), IIT Kharagpur (63) and IIT Roorkee (70). The University of Delhi is the highest ranked non-IIT institution from India here, at 81. Clearly, IITs still remain the country's best educational institutions. At rank no. 95 is yet another, IIT Guwahati.
The next non-IIT institution from India is University of Calcutta, at 131 some distance behind DU, sharing the rank with the University of Mumbai. Banaras Hindu University is next, at 142, Panjab University at 177 and Manipal Academy of Higher Education at 187. BITS Pilani ranked at 205, IIIT Allahabad at 216, University of Pune at 247, Amity University at 251 bring up the rest of the list.
Click here to read the full list of the top 300 Asian universities
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