IIT-Bombay should be commended on becoming the second Indian institution after IISc-Bangalore to crack the top 150 in the QS World University Ranking. The institute was placed 149 in the latest edition of the rankings released on Tuesday. In the past five years, IIT-B has done consistently well on two crucial yardsticks of academic excellence — the research output of its faculty and the reputation the institute’s graduates have secured for it amongst employers. Unfortunately, IISc’s performance in these criteria seems to have come down in the past year and the Bengaluru Institute has fallen outside the top 200 in the QS ranking. IIT-Delhi’s position too has dropped from 174 to 197. Overall, however, the rankings show the country’s higher education system in good light with 45 Indian institutes making it to the QS list — up from 41 last year.
Their performance should not detract, however, from the problems that affect the country’s university system, especially engineering and technology institutes. As IIT-B director Subhasis Chaudhuri told this newspaper in an interview, the metrics of global rankings do not always account for the idiosyncrasies of the higher education set-up. “What is important for us is to see the impact we make on the social ecosystem of India,” he said. IIT-B’s climb up the QS rankings in the past four years shows that the institute has worked consistently towards that task. Unfortunately, it is amongst the few exceptions in an ecosystem marked by an increasing lack of synergy between industry and tech training institutes. A number of surveys have highlighted that only one in five engineering graduates in the country has the state-of-the-art skills required in today’s job market.
Chaudhuri also talked about the budget constraints of Indian universities. He said that the government has its “limitations” when it comes to funds and IIT-B is “connecting with the industry to bridge the gap”. Indian industry has been an underperformer when it comes to investing in R&D and skilling. The few education-related philanthropy initiatives in recent times have been directed at elite institutes. Resolving India’s skill crisis requires private and public agents to show willingness to engage with the faculty in small cities and towns. Global experience shows taking such risks yields path-breaking results.
