7 IITs are continuing to boycott as the Indian institutes are not mentioned in the top 300 list. Overall, India has 35 out of the top 1,000 universities in the world. The IIT which is located in Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati, Madras, Roorkee, Kharagpur has not participated in THE Global Rankings and surprisingly this is the second consecutive year as IIT has not participated in these rankings.
Seven Indian Institutes of Technology continue to boycott the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. The reason behind this boycott is that none of the Indian Institutes has been ranked in the global league table’s latest edition, which was released on Thursday.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is indeed one of the top performers in the country. But unfortunately, it is ranked or belongs to the 301-350 group. Then there are IIT Ropar and JSS College of Higher Education and Research. All these institutes are also ranked in the 351400 group. Overall, India has 35 leading universities out of 1000 top universities in the world and is ranking second. In the past 12 months, it was 36. And globally, the University of Oxford has also topped the list for six years in a row.
This is the second year in a row that the Indian Institutes of Technology, which are located in Roorkee and Kharagpur have not been included in the Times Higher Education(THE) world rankings. As a result, the seven IITs finally announced a boycott last year in April and raised concerns about transparency, as none of the IITs was able to find a position in the top 300 universities in the world.
Before they announced the boycott, the IIT held two meetings with THE’s official team and pointed out the problems of the transparency they faced in ranking parameters, including the citation metric. They opposed the Times Higher Education (THE) and allowed the institutions who have participated, to bump up the citation metric scores.
IIT told the Times Higher Education (THE) that an institution that is a part of these projects ends up always having a disproportionate advantage over others and this is due to one paper that is cited multiple times globally.
An IIT Director said, “We were hoping they will tweak their criteria a bit. After those meetings, no one really got back to us. So our boycott continues.” When asked about the use for such a boycott, the official said “We are very much part of the QS rankings which is also a reputed ranking table. We have found them to be more transparent when it comes to their ranking parameters”
According to The Indian Express, THE’s editorial director, Phil Baty, has stated that THE’s ranking methodology is trusted globally and is very transparent. “Our ranking system is based entirely on a relationship of trust and transparency with the universities that take part and inclusion. We are trusted all over the world.”. He further said that they firmly believe that this decision, which is not to participate in the globally trusted and recognized ranking, disadvantages the IITs. he further said that he feels proud about their transfer and methodology and they are available at any time to continue discussions with the Institute. He has also said that 71 institutions of India have women included in this year’s ranking and take and reap all the benefits from the engagement.
When he was further asked about whether the Times Higher Education would include IIT’s feedback on the citation metric, he said that they have well documented all the plans to review and update the overall methodology but this process cannot be rushed as it involves the entire world.
