31 Indian institutes feature in list of top 980 universities in World

New Delhi: Thirty-one Indian institutions feature in a list of 980 best universities in the world with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru edging closer to the top 200. Leading among the Indian universities, IISc has claimed a spot in the 201-250 band, its highest ever position.

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2016, issued on Thursday, has ranked 980 institutions from 70 countries. The list was subject to an independent audit by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Second among the top Indian institutions is IIT-Bombay, which has found a place in the top 400. While there are 14 new entrants like Tezpur University from Assam and Amity University, five of the 2015 ranked universities - IIT Kharagpur, IIT Guwahati, Panjab University, Amrita University and Andhra University - saw a drop in their rankings this year. The country also has four new entries in the top 800, which are National Institute of Technology (Rourkela), Sri Venkateswara University, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Tezpur University.

University of Oxford, UK topped the overall list, pushing California Institute of Technology, US from first position last year to second. Among the top 10, seven are from the US, while three are from the UK. At number nine, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich) is the lone non-US and -UK institution in the top 10. Two institutes have been placed at the tenth position.

Doubling its representation in this year's newly expanded list, South Asia has claimed 39 places, up from 20 last year. Sri Lanka has made its debut in the table with University of Colombo, while seven institutes from Pakistan, including five new entrants, feature in the list. But the star of the region is India, which has 31 universities in the list.

"India's strong performance is partly thanks to the country recognising the importance of participating in global benchmarking exercises. Just last month the government launched a new funding-backed project aimed at catapulting Indian Institutes of Technology to the top of world university rankings.

It is encouraging that the Indian government has the same ambition to create world-class universities and that its leading institutions are already edging towards the world top 200," Phil Baty, editor of the THE World University Rankings, said.

While most Asian countries are suffering from an ageing population, the number of young people in South Asia is growing. India is set to have the largest student population by 2025, with the number of 18- to 22-year-olds predicted to reach 119 million.

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