New Delhi, Nov 4 — Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated a “record leap” in India’s higher‑education standing on his X (formerly Twitter) account. He noted that the number of Indian universities in the QS Asia University Rankings jumped from just 24 in 2016 to 294 this year, a rise of over 1,100 percent.
“We are committed to quality education for our youth, with a focus on research and innovation,” Modi wrote. “We are building capacity by expanding educational institutions across the country.”
India now trails only China, which has 395 universities in the list, and added 137 new institutions in the latest edition. Five Indian colleges rank among Asia’s top 10 for “papers per faculty,” and 28 sit inside the top 50 – more than twice China’s 50‑plus universities. Seven Indian schools also made the continental top 100, the same number as last year.
Among the standout names, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi climbed to 59th with a score of 78.6, thanks to strong employer ratings and increased citations. The Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) and IIT Madras followed at 64th and 70th, respectively. IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur also made the rankings, joined by the University of Delhi, showing that prestige is spreading beyond the IIT cluster.
At the top of the regional list, the University of Hong Kong overtook Peking University. Singapore’s National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University shared third, underscoring the dominance of Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore in Asia’s elite universities.
QS chief executive Jessica Turner highlighted the impact of India’s National Education Policy, saying it has built “system‑level capacity that is globally relevant and locally empowering.” She cautioned that India will need deeper global partnerships and digital‑age curricula to break into the world’s top ranks.
Most flagship IITs slipped in their absolute positions. IIT Bombay fell 23 places, a shift analysts link to competitors’ faster growth in international faculty, more diverse student bodies, and tighter faculty‑student ratios. Foreign academics and overseas students remain a small part of India’s universities, and infrastructure investment still lags behind leaders like NUS, Tsinghua University and KAIST.
As university leaders in New Delhi and Bengaluru study the rankings, one clear picture emerges: India’s universities are racing ahead, but the finish line keeps shifting to the east.
Source: ianslive
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