Poor Show In Global Rankings: Centre Asks Agencies To Revisit Rating Parameters

New Delhi: With none of the Indian institutes making the cut in the recently released global university rankings, the Centre has reached out to the global bodies to modify their parameters.

The Centre is of the view that ranking agencies such as Times Higher Education and QS World have ignored the contribution of the Indian institutes in offering quality education to the marginalised sections of the society such as SC, ST, OBC and to other meritorious through subsidies and scholarships.

“International bodies largely rely on global parameters which is lacking in Indian universities. They mainly see how many foreign students from how many countries study in a particular university. In addition, the number of foreign teachers in an institution is also an important parameter for such global agencies,” news wire PTI said quoting UGC chairman D P Singh.

“Agencies also look for international projects, patents and global reputation. These are the key parameters for agencies and our universities lagged in them,” he added.

Singh said the central government is trying to convince these agencies to change their ranking parameters.

None of the Indian institutes could make it, leave alone the top 100, even among the top 300 universities in the recently released Times Higher Education ranking. The famed IITs, whose alumni are heading global firms such as Google and occupying top positions in banks and research firms, could match their international peers in the ranking charts.

However, the UGC chairman remained optimistic in his forecast. He said that the Institution of Excellence scheme could prove to be a game changer for the Indian universities in their quest to be be ranked among the best in the world. The scheme has identified 20 public and private universities for transforming into world-class institutes through one time grants, academic and faculty relaxations and development of course content.