With hundreds of universities with thousands of colleges affiliated to them, there is no dearth of universities in India. Yet, none of these colleges is making it to the list of the best colleges around the globe. Every year, more colleges are being established in the country. There seems to be a rise in quantity and shortage in the quality of colleges. This has been a much-debated topic for some time now, and experts relate this failure to multiple reasons.
What and How
QS World University Ranking is a reputed list of universities which are judged based on a variety of parameters including quality of education and value for money. The list is accepted as a global standard. Unfortunately, none of the universities in India has made it to the top 100 universities in the world. This includes prestigious universities such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
In the top 200 universities in the world, two prestigious universities have made it to the list – IISc, Bangalore at 152 and IIT-Delhi at 185. In the top 400, a few more IITs have secured a spot. One of the most reputed universities in India – University of Delhi – couldn’t grab a spot even in the top 500 list.
The Reason
Experts believe that the main reason for such low rankings is due to the lack of funds and incompetent faculty. Another major criterion in which Indian universities score zero points is the number of international faculty and international students. This criterion has a high weightage in QS Rankings and Indian universities score a zero in this criterion. This is an important factor because, if the college has a decent global ranking, faculty and students from other countries would enrol in the university for better education facilities.
The Cure
Authorities are aware of these rankings and are working relentlessly to improve the conditions of education in the country. This includes introducing various reforms, and the entire education system could face a complete overhaul.
To improve the conditions, there will be a special fee structure for international students and the board would conduct the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) in 5 different countries next year onwards. The JEE is for aspirants to gain admission in IITs. IIT-Delhi is also planning to hire foreign faculty on a contract basis.
Expert Opinion
Talat Ahmed, Vice Chancellor, Jamia Milia Islamia, shared the same opinion on this matter but believed that these rankings are rigged and do not provide the accurate results. According to him, the guidelines followed by these authorities were suitable only for American universities and cannot be followed by Indian universities.
- Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University shared a different opinion. He believes that the global rankings are a wake-up call for us to improve the conditions at our universities. He also said that various Asian countries have drastically improved the quality of education at their universities, but India didn’t witness a significant growth in that period.