No Indian university in world rankings

Indian universities failed to make their mark today in a definitive list of the world’s top 100 prestigious educational institutions.

The Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings 2016, released here Wednesday night, was topped by Harvard University for the third consecutive year followed by two other American universities — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, up from fourth position last year, and Stanford, up from fifth.

The UK’s famous Cambridge and Oxford universities slipped to occupy fourth and fifth places this year.

“With the population of young people in the country continuing to expand resulting in further pressure on resources, it is now more crucial than ever that India invests in research and strengthens its links with other nations,” said Phil Baty, editor of the THE rankings.

“The government has spoken about improving its universities but is yet to implement an initiative in this area, which is surely holding back the nation’s reputation for higher education,” he added. The annual World Reputation Ranking is based on a statistically-representative, invitation-only survey of more than 10,000 scholars in 133 countries.

To reach the top 100 of the ranking requires a focus on publishing cutting-edge research to a wide global audience, a high international focus, and a commitment to professional communications and marketing of universities’ achievements.

“This is the top 100 of the most prestigious universities in the world — a tiny elite, representing only around 0.5 per cent of the world’s higher education institutions,” Mr Baty explains, adding that India with a “proud university heritage” had performed well in the overall THE World University Rankings released earlier this year, with 17 institutions making the cut.