IISc among world’s top 100 in engineering and technology, slips in computer science

The Indian Institute of Science has been listed at number 89 as one of the best engineering and technology institutes globally in the recent Times Higher Education rankings.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay lost their positions at number 71 and 82, respectively as the best institutes for computer science in the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings released on Tuesday. However, though not ranked last year, IISc was listed at number 89 as one of the best engineering and technology institutes globally.

Among Indian institutes, IISc slipped from 71 in computer science to join institutes ranked between 101-125. IIT Bombay went down from 82 to the 125-150 band.(HT Photo)

Stanford, not ranked in 2016, was the top institute for computer science globally, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) jumping to the second position from fourth last year and Oxford University maintaining rank three.

This year’s rankings have been expanded to include 300 universities, up from 100 last year

Several newcomers have made it to the list this year. “In some cases this is due to the fact that we lowered the eligibility threshold for the proportion of staff that must work in the subject area. Stanford University for example enters at first place, while the University of Cambridge is now in fifth,” Phil Baty, editorial director, global rankings, said.

China’s leading institutions – Peking and Tsinghua – both rose to take 20th (up from 21st) and 25th (up from 27th) place, respectively.

Among Indian institutes, IISc slipped from 71 to join institutes ranked between 101-125. IIT Bombay went down from 82 to the 125-150 band. IITs Delhi and Kharagpur made it to the 126-159 band, IIT Madras was in the 201-250 band, followed by IIT Kanpur at 251-300. The last four institutes were not listed in the rankings last year.

Stanford University again beat last year’s topper California Institute of Technology to number one position for engineering and technology. Oxford University, MIT and Cambridge University retained third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

IIT Bombay was listed in the 126-150 band. IITs Delhi, Kanpur and Kharagpur made it to the 201-250 band while IITs Madras and Roorkee were at rank 251-300. Guwahati finished at 301-400.

Institutes other than the IITs that made it to the rankings included Jadavpur University, National Institute of Technology Rourkela and Tezpur University, all in the 401-500 band. None of the institutes had been included in the ranking last year.

All universities are rated for excellence across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. THE’s education rankings include narrower subject areas, including general, electrical and electronic, mechanical and aerospace, civil and chemical engineering for the engineering and technology ranking.