(a) whether the Government is aware that Indian Universities do not figure in the top 100
Universities of the world;
(b) if so,the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the Government would seriously look at the state of things in Indian
Universities;and
(d) if so,the measures proposed to be taken to compete with the other Universities of the
world?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT(SMT. D. PURANDESWARI)
(a) to (d): While certain institutions or agencies occasionally publish list of universities or
educational institutions ranked according to their own criteria, there is no authentic official
international agency for the global ranking of universities. In a recent global survey of world
universities by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) the Indian Institute of Technology
at Mumbai has been ranked at 163rd position and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi at
the 181st position. While Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) of Delhi and Mumbai have
scored highly on all other attributes in comparison to the globally reputed institutions,
two factors attributed to the lower ranking of IITs in the said survey are reportedly low
scores on international staff and international students in IITs.
Improvement of quality of higher education is a continuous process. A substantial increase in
Plan allocation has been made in the Eleventh Plan aiming at improvement of quality through
increased allocation for improvement of infrastructure in the existing higher and technical
educational institutions and by way of setting up of new quality institutions such as Central
Universities in uncovered States, establishment of Innovation Universities aiming at world
class standards, quality institutions such as Indian Instituted of Technology,
Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Indian
Institutes of Information Technology, Schools for Planning and Architecture, establishment of
50 centres for training and research in frontier areas of Science and Technology.
Quality of teaching in higher education is a matter of great concern. When the Pay Review
Committee recommendations in respect of teachers in colleges and universities were taken up
by the Central Government, the salaries and other allowances for teachers, higher than those
for the Group `A` Civil Services was agreed to by the Government on the condition that the
eligibility conditions would be tightened and qualifications would be of a high order. The
age of superannuation of teachers in higher education has also been increased from 62 years
to 65 years. These steps would ensure that over time the best talent comes into the academic
professions through a process of tightening entry and liberalizing pay and other incentives.