Panjab University ranked 130 in Emerging Economies University Rankings

PANJAB UNIVERSITY (PU) has jumped five places to 130 from 135, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2018 that was released on Wednesday. Among the Indian universities, it has maintained its 12th rank from last year. According to the THE Asia University Rankings 2018, released in early Febraury, PU had crept back into the top 10 Indian varsities, from the 12th rank and also improved its Asian ranking to 114 from a bracket of 121-130.

The number of participating countries rose to 350 from 300 across 42 countries in four continents. India has also cemented its position in the rankings by becoming the third-most represented country in the top 200, behind China and Taiwan. As many as 42 Indian institutions made it to the 2018 table, a significant rise from 27 last year.

The score is more or less similar to the Asia rankings with minor changes in the overall score that is 26.6, 27.1 in teaching and 8.6 in research. The industry income score of 31.8 and 16.0 in international outlook remains the same along with the citation score of 55.5 that has been a major contributing factor to an improved ranking.

Last year, PU had an overall score of 23.9 with 46.2 in citation, 32.3 in industry income, 23.8 in teaching, 15.2 in international outlook and 9.2 in research. Besides research and industry income, the varsity’s score has improved on all parameters.

In March, PU was among the 21 state universities that were granted full autonomy by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Vice Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover has already given his presentation of the proposal for Institution of Eminence (IoE) before the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). While the research citation continues to be of high value, the total amount of research has gone down. A major reason has been attributed to the shortage of faculty. The university is functioning on 50 per cent of its total faculty strength. The varsity has 1,500 permanent teaching posts, but only a strength of around 700 regular teachers at present.

Prof Grover, however, said the university’s improved rankings in Asia or among emerging economies showed that it was resilient despite major shortcomings. “With worsening student-teacher ratio, stagnant infrastructure, manpower restrictions on administration, technical staff and other constraints, if PU is able to sustain its position among premier institutions of India, it is an ample proof of its resilience,” he added.

The V-C further stated that the university was an ideal laboratory to try and implement new and innovative plans of different governments and the rankings could help in IoE selection. The IoE status will give the university complete freedom as it wants to start new courses and research projects.

Two institutes, which ranked much below PU last year, however, have managed to improve their rankings by leaps and bounds. National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, became India’s highest riser and leapt an impressive 57 positions to 138 from 195. Among the Indian institutions, it is now placed right below PU at 13.

Tezpur University, too, gained 41 places to break into the top 100. It has shot up to 99 from 140 and shares the rank with Russia’s National University of Science and Technology. Last year, it was five places below PU in the overall rankings and one place below in India.

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, continues to be at the top in India and has also improved its overall ranking from 14 to 13 this year. IIT Kharagpur has ascended 26 places to break into the top 50 at rank 45, while IIT Bombay has maintained its position at number 26.

Phil Baty, editorial director of global rankings, said, “India has the potential to emerge as an eminent player in global higher education in the coming years. This is a pivotal moment,” adding that initiatives such as the new Study in India programme to increase international student numbers and Institutions of Eminence were encouraging and could elevate its selected universities on the global stage.

But while several institutions made big gains and the country’s overall representation in the table increased, a majority of its previously ranked institutions dropped places and both IIT Madras and IIT Delhi plummeted from the top 50.
News Source (Indian Express)