31 Indian colleges enter the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, IISc Bangalore ranked highest

31 Indian colleges have entered the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-17.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has climbed to the highest position ever achieved by an Indian institute till date. Though, no Indian institute has yet broken into the top 200, IISc holds a rank in the 201-250 band. The last time around it was in the band of 251-300. Beside IISc, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay also made it in the top 400. IIT Bombay however, remains in the same 351-400 band as in last year.

IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras were placed in the 401-500 bracket; IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee and Jadavpur University in the 501-600 group; and, Aligarh Muslim University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, University of Calcutta, University of Delhi, IIT Guwahati, NIT Rourkela, Panjab University, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Sri Venkateswara University, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Tezpur University in the 601-800 group.

India has a number of 19 institutions in the top 200, which is 2 more than the last year.

"India has four new entries in the top 800, the country's strong performance is partly thanks to the country recognizing the importance of participating in global benchmarking exercises; just last month the government launched a new funding-backed project aimed at catapulting Indian Institutes of Technology to the top of world university rankings, " said Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education World University Rankings in a statement.

"The government's focus on improving India's standing in global rankings - and even the introduction of the India-specific rankings - has started to yield results. Going forward, there needs to be discussions between ministries to facilitate free flow of students and faculty “Rohin Kapoor, director at Deloitte in India, told ET.”Once internationalization and globalization happens, India's rankings will improve significantly. This is one of the critical areas where India is lagging behind," Kapoor further added.

This year Times Higher Education World University Rankings expanded their rankings to 980 as compared to 800 last year. Institutes ranked in the 801+ bandare Acharya Nagarjuna University, Amity University, Amrita University, Andhra University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Manipal University, Osmania University, SASTRA University, Sathyabama University, SRM University and Vellore Institute of Technology.

Amrita University and Andhra University slipped down to the 801+ group. However, on the brighter side NIT Rourkela, Sri Venkateswara University, TIFR and Tezpur University made their way in the top 800 list.

“This year's expanded list is a testimony to how competitive global higher education has become. The 980 universities come from 79 different countries,” Batty told ET.

US for the first time in 12 years lost the first rank in the list with University of Oxford becoming the world's top university. Others in the top five include California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.