The steady drop in Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc.) global university ranking over the last decade has spurred the institute to set up a committee to come up with strategies to raise its position.
The IISc., the only Indian university that has consistently held a place in the influential Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), has slipped by over 100 points between 2003 and 2014.
Six parametersThe ARWU uses six indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, number of highly cited researchers and the number of articles published in journals of nature and science.
The committee, which includes senior professors from several departments, was set up a few weeks ago to analyse the areas where IISc. is falling short and to create strategies to pull it up, IISc. director Anurag Kumar told The Hindu .
The biggest nosedive on the ARWU was between 2013 and 2014, when IISc.’s rank fell by around 80 points (from 320 to 400 points).
The institution has faltered in one particular category: the number of highly cited researchers it has on its rolls. In 2013, IISc. had four of its professors on the list of “Highly Cited Researchers” used by the ARWU (a list selected by Thomson Reuters). This year it has zero.
This owes in part to Thomson Reuters raising the bar for highly cited researchers, and cutting down its list from around 6,000 to 3,000 names. No IISc. professor finds mention in the new list.
The committee will, however, look not just at the ARWU, but also other ranking systems that evaluate institutions, Prof. Kumar said.
Various measuresA member of the committee and chairman of the Division of Interdisciplinary Research, G. Rangarajan, said it will be looking at various measures to increase the quality of research, including ways to attract better faculty.
