Indian Universities have drawn a blank in 11 of the 36 subjects ranked by ‘QS Top Universities 2015’ list released in Bangkok.
In agriculture and medicine, neighbouring Pakistan has performed better than India with three entries in agriculture and one in medicine — both areas where Indian universities have failed to emerge among the top 400 in the world.
The best global performance by an Indian University in any subject was by the University of Delhi, which was ranked 17th globally in the subject of Development Studies.
Differing from the traditional ranking of universities, this one considers individual subjects and bases the position on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. QS ranks universities worldwide every year and is deemed to be one the leading ranking institutions.
In medicine, agriculture and forestry, no Indian university could make it to the top 400. The three universities from Pakistan which are among the top 200 in agriculture and forestry are University of Agriculture – Faisalabad (among top 100), Arid Agriculture University – Rawalpindi, and Quaid-i-Azam University – Islamabad (both among top 200).
In medicine, Pakistan’s Aga Khan University is listed among the top 400. Other Asian countries whose medical universities have come out on top include Thailand with five universities, Malaysia with four, and Lebanon, Iran, Indonesia and the Philippines with one each. Asian leaders in this field are Japan with 25 universities and China with 11.
The eleven subjects where no Indian university figures in the top 400 include accounting and finance, agriculture and forestry, architecture and built environment, communication and media studies, dentistry, economics, education, law, linguistics, philosophy and veterinary sciences.
Surprise Indian entries include Shanmugha Arts Science Technology and Research in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, which came within the top 100 in the arts and design category. The only other Indian Institute in this category was IIT Bombay. The University of Hyderabad was among the top 250 in English language & literature, while both Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University came among top 250 in History.
IITs continue to be top performers outclassing traditional universities like Panjab University, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.
IIMs did well in Business and Management Studies with IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta and IIT Bombay making the grade in the global top 250.
Engineering and Science subjects where Indian universities, particularly IITs and Indian Institute of Science generally performed well, included chemistry, computer science, chemical engineering, civil engineering & structural engineering, electrical & electronic engineering, mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering, material science; and mathematics.
The 36 subjects analysed by QS Top Universities were across the five categories of arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life science and medicine, natural science and social science.
( is a freelance writer based in Bangkok. He can be contacted at bajinder@hotmail.com)