51 from South among ‘record’ 91 Indian varsities in THE World University Rankings 2024

The list measures an institution’s performance across five indicators: Teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook.

Meanwhile, frontline IITs continued to boycott the rankings for the fourth consecutive year, even though India became the fourth-best-represented country in this year’s rankings. India, which jumped two spots this year, was at No 6 last year.

Also read: IISc, VIT, UOH among 44 universities from South India in NIRF 

Tamil Nadu leads

The rankings have been divided into seven bands, which indicate the ranking slot of an educational institution.

THE World University rankings

As many as 22 Universities and institutions feature from Tamil Nadu — the highest from any Indian state — in the rankings, followed by nine from Karnataka

Chennai’s Anna University was placed in the 501-600 ranking band, along with Mahatma Gandhi University, headquartered in Kottayam, Kerala. Both of them are right behind the IISc among Indian varsities.

In the 601-800 band, the majority of universities were from Tamil Nadu: Alagappa University, Bharathiar University, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT).

Only the Indian Institute of Technology of Hyderabad (IIT-H) made its way into this ranking band apart from the Tamil Nadu universities.

In the 801-1000 ranking band, there are a total of six varsities from the southern states. These include Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (all from Tamil Nadu), Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara (JSS) Academy of Higher Education & Research from Karnataka, and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur (JNTUA) from Andhra Pradesh.

For the eighth consecutive year, the University of Oxford was adjudged the best university in the global rankings. It was followed by Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

NIRF Rankings 2023: IIT Madras, IISc Bengaluru from South India in top 100

1001 to 1500 band

In the 1001-1200 ranking band, Karnatak University Dharwad (Karnataka), NIT Warangal (Telangana), and Pondicherry University made it to the list.

As the list went further, the number of Indian institutions, particularly from southern states, kept increasing.

1201-1500 ranking category

Tamil Nadu: BS Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE), Veltech University, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, SRM University, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, and SASTRA (deemed to be university)

Karnataka: Christ University

Kerala: Cochin University

Andhra Pradesh: Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Sri Venkateswara University and Acharya Nagarjuna University.

Telangana: Osmania University

Also read: IIT, UoH, Osmania among top 25 universities in India

1501+ rankings

Tamil Nadu: Annamalai University, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research (BIHER) , Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), University of Mysore, PSG Industrial Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute,  KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, M Kumarasamy College, of Engineering and Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation.

THE World University rankings

Karnataka: REVA University, RV College of Engineering (RVCE), KLE Technological University, Nitte (Deemed to be Dental Sciences University), Presidency University, and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).

Andhra Pradesh: Andhra University, The Gandhian Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM) University, and Vignan Foundation for Science, Technology, and Research.

Telangana: ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE)

Puducherry: Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth

Phil Baty, THE’s chief global affairs officer said, “India has well and truly embraced the international agenda, and international competition, with an unprecedented 91 universities making it into the rigorous and demanding Times Higher Education World University Rankings this year, making India now the fourth best represented nation in the rankings.”

He added, “Although methodological changes this year have not been kind to some Indian institutions, the overall picture remains positive — with a rise into the top 250 for IISc and several other rising institutions.”