New Delhi, 14 September 2022, THE Ranking 2023: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, Roorkee, and Kharagpur have boycotted the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings as they demand transparency in its assessment criteria.
As a result, Times Higher Education (THE) has decided to make changes in its performance grading criteria to address the concerns of all 6 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
The Ranking 2023 – Boycott Reasons
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have raised multiple complaints against the Times Higher Education (THE). According to the administrators of the universities, the data presented by the Times Higher Education (THE) is alleged to be imperfect as they do not share the data to cross-check and the information about teaching and reputation surveys. As per the general guidelines, the perception from the university includes a total of 33% but the Times Higher Education (THE) doesn’t seek input from the universities regarding the survey report.
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) reported the ranking methodology and the student-faculty ratio of Times Higher Education (THE) as flawed and misleading. They mentioned a few reasons to support their statement which are listed below:
- In 2020, the institutes cited the problem to use collaborative research projects to increase their score on the citation metric. They claimed that their research papers had high citations because of multiple authors associated with them but the ranking says otherwise.
- The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee reported 444 academic staff but the world university ranking reported 996 academic staff.
Due to this, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, Roorkee, and Kharagpur have boycotted the World University Rankings and demanded transparency in their assessment criteria.
The Ranking 2023 – List of Universities
The Times Higher Education (THE) publishes a list of the best universities in the world and is among the most widely observed higher education rankings in its field. The university rankings for the year 2023 include 1,799 universities across 104 countries.
The institutions that are ranked as top universities by the Times Higher Education (THE) is listed below:
- University of Oxford
- Harvard University
- University of Cambridge
- Stanford University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- California Institute of Technology
- Princeton University
- University of California, Berkeley
- Yale University
- Imperial College London
- Columbia University
- ETH Zurich
- The University of Chicago
- University of Pennsylvania
- Johns Hopkins University
- Tsinghua University
- Peking University
- University of Toronto
- National University of Singapore
- Cornell University
The Ranking 2023 – Ranking Methodology
The performance indicators are grouped into five areas: teaching (the learning environment); research (volume, income and reputation); citations (research influence); international outlook (staff, students and research); and industry income (knowledge transfer).
- Teaching – 30%
- Reputation survey: 15%
- Staff-to-student ratio: 4.5%
- Doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio: 2.25%
- Doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio: 6%
- Institutional income: 2.25%
The researchers examine the teaching methods of teachers. It aims to trace the development and learning process of children. The institutional income is measured against academic staff numbers and purchasing-power-parity (PPP). It shows an institution’s general status and infrastructure available to students and staff.
- Research – 30%
- Reputation survey: 18%
- Research income: 6%
- Research productivity: 6%
To measure the performance of students and universities, researchers count the number of publications published in academic journals.
- Citations – 30%
The influence indicators examine the roles and responsibilities of universities in spreading new knowledge and ideas to students. They capture the average number of times a university has published research work and cited the scholars.
- International outlook – 7.5%
The field researchers identify the ability of a university to attract undergraduates, postgraduates and faculty from all over the world. The proportion of a university’s publications that have been rewarded as international co-author is the key investigation at this stage.
- Industry income – 2.5%
The category of industry income captures innovation, consultancy and knowledge transfer activity of the universities at the global level. To get on a final result, the Times Higher Education (THE) follows a standardization approach to calculate where a particular institution’s indicator sits within that function.
The Ranking 2023 – Ranking of IITs
The World University Rankings 2023 of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are mentioned below:
| Universities | Ranking |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar | 501/600 |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Indore | 601/800 |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Patna | 801/1000 |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar | 801/1000 |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar | 10001/1200 |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati | 10001/1200 |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi | 10001/1200 |
The Ranking 2023 – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q.1 Which Indian university has topped in THE ranking 2023?
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has secured the top position among Indian universities.
Q2. Which IIT ranks best according to the Times Higher Education?
The Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has ranked best among all other Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Q3. Why have the IITs boycotted the Times Higher Education?
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, Roorkee, and Kharagpur have boycotted the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings as they demand transparency in its assessment criteria.
