India’s premier scientific and research institution, Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science, scoring a hat-trick by topping the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in its third edition in 2018 as the best Indian institution for higher education speaks volumes about the quality of education and research maintained at this 109-year-old institute. Truly an achievement when considered that this ranking was arrived at by NIRF under the aegis of Union HRD ministry after scrutinising 3,954 higher education institutions in India. The scrutiny was done on teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity, and perception.
IISc’s director Prof Anurag Kumar has attributed his institute’s achievements to the hard work and efforts of IISc’s faculty and research scholars “not just from the last three years, (but) ... since several years.” However, IISc falls short when compared with research institutes at the global level. The UK-based Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, released in 2017 saw IISc fall from its previous 201-250 grouping to the 251-300 rank category.
The survey says IISc’s slide is attributed to a declining research influence score—measured by frequency of the faculty’s published work cited by scholars globally—and research income. Besides, IISc is at number 190 in the 2018 QS World University Rankings, said to be the only international ranking to receive International Ranking Expert Group’s approval.
It is also one of three most-followed university rankings in the world along with the THE World University Rankings and Academic Ranking of World Universities. IISc’s rank had dropped from 147 in 2016 to 152 in 2017. A greater share of private funding and an increased budget allocation to scientific research through the 17 government departments or organisations that fund IISc could go a long way in pushing the institute’s global ranking up.