Not a single Indian university has made it to the Top 200 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings this year. IIT Bombay (187), the only Indian varsity to find itself in the Top 200 in 2010, has dropped 38 places to rank 225. Similarly,IIT Delhi and IIT Madras, which ranked 202 and 262 respectively in 2010, fell to 218 and 281. The rankings by QS, a leading networking organisation in higher education, are based on employer reputation, academic reputation and research quality.
Moreover, the remaining Indian universities featuring in the rankings including IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, University of Delhi, University of Calcutta, University of Pune and University of Mumbai do not feature in the Top 300 World University Rankings.
| Indian universities in QS World University Rankings 2011 | ||
| Institute | 2011 | 2010 |
| IIT Bombay | 225 | 187 |
| IIT Delhi | 218 | 202 |
| IIT Madras | 281 | 262 |
However, some Indian varsities have fared well in the QS Asian University Rankings 2011. While the likes of IIT Kanpur (IIT-K), IIT Delhi (IIT-D), IIT Madras (IIT-M), IIT Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) and IIT Roorkee (IIT-R) climbed rankings, IIT Bombay has dropped two places in the annual rankings. At 36th place, IIT Kanpur--which was ranked 37 last year--became the top Indian university in the rankings for the year. Two more Indian universities (IIT-M and IIT-KGP) have made it to the top 50 Asian Universities ranking as compared to 2010. Replaced by IIT-K at number 36, IIT Bombay fell two places to 38, while IIT-D improved its 39th place in 2010 to 37th place in 2011.
However, other Indian universities like the University of Calcutta, University of Delhi, University of Mumbai and University of Pune slipped in their rankings, while the University of Hyderabad did not make it to the list this year.
Globally, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Oxford bettered their last year's rankings from 5 and 6 to 3 and 5 in 2011, respectively, Yale University dropped one place from third rank to fourth rank this year.
Among Asian countries, Japan was the best-represented nation, with five of the top 10 and 57 of the top 200 universities, ahead of China (40) and South Korea (35), Taiwan (16), India (11), Thailand (9), Indonesia (8), Malaysia (7) and Hong Kong (7). Despite the troubled Japanese economy, its universities continued to perform strongly with Tokyo and Kyoto each move up one place to 4th and 7th respectively. In Singapore, National University of Singapore (NUS) retained its place in the top three.
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| Top 5 QS World University Rankings 2011 | ||
| Institute | 2011 | 2010 |
| University of Cambridge | 1 | 1 |
| Harvard University | 2 | 2 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) | 3 | 5 |
| Yale University | 4 | 3 |
| University of Oxford | 5 | 6 |
Meanwhile, under the technical subjects rankings by QS, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) has bagged 30th place in the Civil and Structural Engineering category. IIT-D also bagged the 40th, 41st and 43rd places in subjects like mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering; electrical and electronic engineering; and computer science subjects--the highest among Indian institutes.
Among top Indian technical institutes featuring in the QS World University Rankings are Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), among others.
| Best Represented Asian Countries Among Top 200 Rankings | |
| Country | No of Institutes in Top 200 Rankings |
| Japan | 57 |
| China | 40 |
| South Korea | 35 |
| Taiwan | 16 |
| India | 11 |
| Thailand | 9 |
| Indonesia | 8 |
| Malaysia | 7 |
| Hong Kong | 7 |