Context: 

• The UK-based ranking agency, QS Quacquarelli Symonds declared its Asia ranking for the year 2024, QS World University Rankings: Asia 2024.

Indian Universities on the Rise: Achievements and Challenges in QS Asia Rankings 2024

• Ranking of Indian Institutes: Institutes ranked in the top three in India are IIT Bombay (40th), IIT Delhi (46th) and IIT Madras (53rd) which have consistently maintained their Asia rank from last year. 
  • IIT Kharagpur which was ranked 61 in 2023 has jumped to 59. And IIT Kanpur has jumped from rank 66 in last year to 63 in 2024.

• • The two non-IIT institutions from India in top 100 Asia ranks are Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Delhi University. 
• Global rankings: India has surpassed China in the number of ranked universities.
  • India is now the most represented higher education system in QS World University Rankings: Asia With 148 featured universities. 
• Academic reputation: India falls below the regional average in academic reputation (11.8 vs 19) and employer reputation (9.6 vs 18).
• Papers per faculty metric: Seven Indian universities feature among the top 10 in the region for the papers per faculty indicator. 
  • It achieved the second-best regional results in the papers per faculty metric (36.0 vs 14.8) among the higher education systems with more than 10 universities ranked. 
• PhD indicator: India has achieved its best average score for the staff with PhD’ indicator (42.3 vs 22), signaling a strong research output and a highly qualified faculty body. 
  • This is only lower than Hong Kong SAR (57.6) and Taiwan.
• Reducing the time frame of reference: India is closing this growth gap. For example, from 2020 to 2022, China’s research output grew by 31 per cent while India’s grew by 29 per cent – a 7 per cent reduction in growth difference.
  • It suggests that India is catching up with its regional competitor.

News Source: Indian Express