World University Rankings 2019 out – No Indian University in top 250

No Indian institution figures in the top 250 of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) world university rankings 2019, though the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has retained its position as the highest-ranked centre in the country, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore has risen to the highest position behind it.

The India group in the ranking was again led by the Indian Institute of Science, which retained its position in the 251-300 band. But IIT-Indore became India’s second highest-ranked university – and a global top 400 institution – with its strong score for research volume and research impact.

Yale University is the only newcomer to the top 10, joining at eighth place, up from 12th. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich has fallen out of this elite group, dropping from joint 10th to 11th place.

Tsinghua University is now the top university in Asia, after rising eight places to 22nd, becoming the first Chinese institution to lead the continent under the current methodology (since 2011). China as a whole has increased its standing, driven by improvements in citation impact.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan has overtaken the UK as the second most-represented nation in the world, with 103 institutions (the UK has 98).

There is also good news for France, which has a top 50 university for the first time since 2011, while several leading universities in Italy, Spain and Canada have risen.

Overall, 86 countries are represented, including Iraq, Jamaica, Nepal, Tanzania and Kazakhstan for the first time.