The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT -B) set a milestone on Wednesday after it broke into the list of the world's top 150 universities in the latest edition of the QS World University Ranking. This is the first time in eight years that an Indian higher education institute has made it to the top 150—the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore was on rank 147 in the list released in 2016.
This year, however, the IISc fell to 225th rank from 155 last year. IIT Delhi, which fell from 174 last year to 197 now, is the second highest ranked Indian institution.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar congratulated IIT-B on achieving the feat, and added that Indian universities are world-class. “Now less Indians will have to travel abroad for better education. Indian education is now not just good, it is among the world's best,” he told ANI.
“IIT-B emerges as the new torchbearer for Indian higher education. IIT Bombay’s impressive trajectory of consistent improvements in research quality and reputation has facilitated its rise to prominence. Over the past five years, it has propelled its employer reputation ranking from 102nd to 69th and improved its Citations per Faculty rank from 226th to 133rd. However, the institution’s internationalisation metrics still require enhancement to fully realise its potential as a globally diverse institution,” the statement issued by QS analysts said.
According to the official statement, IIT Bombay has significantly moved up from the 177th rank last year to 149th this year. The statement further stated that there were nine parameters in QS ranking, among which Employer Reputation was the strongest for IIT Bombay with a global rank of 69.
This year, QS ranked 2,900 institutions for this year's ranking system, and featured 45 Indian universities, including four new universities University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Chitkara University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, and the Indian Statistical Institute.
QS Founder and CEO Nunzio Quacquarelli also congratulated Chandigarh University for securing 780th rank, becoming the top performing Indian private university.