Problems with creating ‘World Class Universities’ in India

With more than one thousand universities in the country, it was a shame that none of them were considered good enough to be counted amongst the top universities of the world. Policy planners and regulators were obviously concerned and they needed to act urgently and they came up with the idea of declaring 10 public and 10 private higher educational institutions as Institutions of Eminence (IoE) with a view to create conditions and support them to attain world class status. While doing so, they followed such an elaborate, time-consuming and complicated process that it took more than two years to identify and declare just three public and three private universities as opposed to declaring ten. Not just that, the announcement of the IoEs caused a kind of furor solely due to the inclusion of a yet to be born institute in the list.

In the process, most of the media discussion and public discourse lost sight of the critical question as to how soon would the country see even a few of its universities mentioned in the upper echelons of the league table. There has hardly been a discussion as to how strong are the probabilities of the selected universities, at least the remaining five, to ever attain a place in the coveted list.

To get an objective understanding of the issue, this author collected the data on rankings of Indian universities for the past four years from the three most frequently referred world ranking of universities viz. the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the QS Ranking and the Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking. Based on their rank positions, a composite score for each of the universities were computed and averaged by assigning them a score ranging between 6, for the best ranked, 1, for the lowest ranked. The methodology assumes that a university that has been able to manage a place in the reputed world rankings, overcoming all odds and impediments, is not only likely to retain its ranks but also rise up the ladder. Additionally, a university ranked higher in the world ranking is more likely to rise up the ladder faster by capitalising on the opportunities that the scheme of IoE offers.

An analysis of the four-year performance in the three world rankings of universities, throws up 48 universities from India comprising 37 public and 11 private universities with a wide margin in the rank positions of the public and private universities. As a result, the top 20 universities have only three private universities and too at close to the bottom. Clearly, the odds are highly stacked in favour of the public universities and thereby commenting on the fact that the very idea of declaring an equal number of public and private universities as IoE was essentially flawed. If the goal was to enable universities to attain world class status, the nation would have greatly benefited by declaring those that have been consistently ranked higher in the world rankings.

The announcement of the IoE further erred by limiting the number of public universities to only three as opposed to the originally announced ten, though it is of solace that those selected were the best performers in the world ranking. IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi do indeed stand out amongst all the public universities in the country. However, limiting the number to only three, was an injustice to IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, University of Delhi, Panjab University and IIT Guwahati which are undoubtedly the top 10 universities of India in the world rankings. Had they chosen to declare, irrespective of the type, the best 20 universities of the country in the world ranking, the list could have included University of Calcutta, Pune University, AMU, BHU, BITS Pilani, Amrita, Manipal, University of Mumbai and Amity University among others. Such a policy defies all logic that universities with higher demonstrated performance in the world rankings are overlooked simply because they belong to the public category. Clearly, the policy fails to recognise its impact on the morale and motivation of the higher educational institutions.

As regards encouraging the Greenfield universities, the same thing could have been dealt with by a separate dispensation. The country has dragged its feet too long in coming up with an enabling legislation for the entry and operation of the private universities, while at the same time the state governments have gone overboard in establishing them in large numbers. Let us expedite the processes and enable sincere private investment in quality higher education and if they do well, they are bound to be counted amongst the world rankings and then be fully qualified to be declared as Institutions of Eminence. To do this calls for a thorough review of the policy and procedure of declaring universities as IoE. This requires urgent simplification and rationalisation aimed at arriving at speedy decisions that are least expensive and time-confusing, objective, transparent and logical. The guiding principle must be to enable as many universities to attain world class status as possible in the soonest possible time frame.

The author is Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU). Views expressed are personal.