Times Higher Education (THE), a leading education journal in the UK, and publisher of a respected annual survey of universities across the world, has for the first time ranked universities at Asia-level. While University of Tokyo, Japan, bagged the top slot, IIT-Kharagpur is placed at 30 — India has only three institutes in the top 100 while China has 15. The other two to have made it are IIT-Bombay (33) and IIT-Rourkee (56). Japan is the best edu destination in Asia, followed by Taiwan. More details at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings. In an email interview, Phil Baty, editor, Times Higher Education Rankings, elaborated on the rankings and how India can reach the top of the table.
Why did you decide to rank universities in Asia?
The THE World University Rankings are firmly established as the most widely cited and highly regarded global benchmark of university performance. In shining new light on higher education in a globalised world, this invaluable resource has only increased demand for more information — more data, more detail, more context — as a wider range of users, from governments and university leaders down to would-be students, turn to the rankings for insight. Asia has 57 institutions in the overall global top 400, but many more of its universities aspire to join the world’s research-intensive elite and want to benchmark their progress. So the Asia-only table goes deeper and gives more data on more of the region’s institutions than the overall rankings.
What challenges did you face during this survey?
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings collect many tens of thousands of data points on several hundred universities, and analyse some 60 million citations to five million research papers, and collect the views of around 16-17,000 academics each year, so the rankings exercise is a huge and laborious undertaking.
Although the bulk of the performance indicators are collected independently of each institution, our data partners, Thomson Reuters do also work with each and every institution listed in the rankings, to collect and verify basic institutional data, such as student and staff numbers. It is a huge challenge, but luckily, we have superb engagement from all the leading institutions across the world — they recognise the value of benchmarking their performance against established, comprehensive and rigorous global standards with a trusted partner.
What was the methodology used?
The methodology used is the same as in the World University Rankings — 13 indicators covering teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. Details at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking/methodology.
What kind of an education/ economic/social milieu help Japan and Taiwan perform well?
World-class universities need plenty of money — to provide the salaries to attract and retain top international talent, and to provide the facilities for world-class research. The nations that are home to the top universities in Asia tend to have been willing to invest generously in building world-class universities, to ensure that they are at the forefront of the knowledge and innovation economy. It is investment well made, as it brings abundant financial returns to the nation through an improved economy. But a world-class university needs more than just money — freedom is essential: academic freedom for scholars to pursue curiosity-driven research and to push forward the boundaries of our collective knowledge, and institutional freedom to manage their own affairs free from too much government interference, and to be dynamic and flexible in the face of a rapidly changing world. Strong leadership is also an important factor when it comes to performing well in the tables.
What is wrong with the education system in India?
There has clearly been serious pressure on spending per student, given the huge expansion of student numbers in recent years, and there is a well-established shortage of highly qualified faculty in the Indian university system.There has also traditionally been a discord between university research and research and development in industry, which in many countries works much more closely together. This has caused some problems, but it is very encouraging to see that the 12th Five-Year Plan has put raising quality at the top of the agenda — and with India’s growing economic strength, it is certainly feasible that with the right political direction, we will see improvement in time.
What kind of reforms should Indian universities implement?
Personally, I would place an improvement of the quality of research in India’s universities as a top priority. This would mean better coordination with industrial research funders, but also more targeted and more competitively distributed research funding. Many successful higher education nations have research evaluation systems that reward good research with preferential funding, and competition can drive improvement.
Online education is helping bridge the education divide and offering those who don’t have an opportunity to study. Have you taken this into account?
As these rankings look primarily at research-led universities, our main indicators examine an institution’s research output. Although our teaching reputation indicator will potentially encompass great success in MOOCs and other online courses, at present, it is hard to capture relevant and valid quality information with regard to open and online teaching. As a result, we are currently more focused on the traditional, campus-based teaching experience. We are keeping a close eye on the development of alternative metrics around online learning, but until we are sure we can develop robust and rigorous indicators, we will resist rushing into using inadequate proxies.
In India, the focus has always been on expanding university education and getting more students into colleges. Research was never a priority. The government is slowly changing this. What is your view?
In India, there is a clear need to meet a huge and still growing demand for higher education, and this is clearly a major national priority. Having strong, teaching focused institutions providing skills for large numbers of students must not preclude also investing in the development of a smaller number of world-class research-intensive universities.
— nithya@newindianexpresscom