IISc only Indian varsity in top 10 QS BRICS Rankings 2016

QUICK PILL

• 1 Indian institute features in top ten.
• Chinese universities dominate list, occupy 7 spots in top 10.
• India has just 17.6 % representation in the overall BRIC rankings as opposed to China which has 34.4% representation.

The QS University Rankings 2016 for BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is out.

In another dismal performance, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is the only university to feature in the top ten list. The institute's ranking has dipped from #5 in 2015 to #6 in 2016.

Chinese universities dominated the list, occupying seven spots in the top ten. Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, University of Science and Technology of China and Shanghai Jiao Tong University occupied the top five spots. Russia's Lomonosov Moscow State University and Brazil's Universidade de São Paulo are the other universities to feature in the list.

This year, the ranking has been extended to feature the top 250 BRICS universities, up from the previous 200.

As a result, 54 Brazilian and 44 Indian universities have made it to the list. However, China rules the roost with 86 varsities, followed by Russia with 55. South Africa has 11 featured universities, led by the University of Cape Town in 14th place.

"Collectively accounting for 42% of the world's population, these five nations remain significant players in the changing global economy, and all have placed higher education at the center of plans for continued development," a release from the varsity states.

Not a single Indian university made it to the top 200 list from the Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings 2016, which were declared in May this year.

In an informal interview, Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar expressed his intention to work towards improving the ranks of Indian institutes internally.