India has increased its share of the top universities in the Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017, but China still has the highest density of leading institutions in the developing world.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) breaks into the Top 15 for the first time this year, in 14th place, thanks to an improved teaching environment and greater research influence. The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay has also reached its highest position after climbing three places to #26, boosted by improved scores across all the five pillars underlying the methodology. Overall, India has 27 universities in the Top 300 ranking, 19 of which make the Top 200 (up from 16 last year), making it the second most-represented nation in the table.
Despite India’s gains, however, China still dominates the list, taking 52 — or more than one in six — places in the Top 300. Six of these make the elite Top 10, including Fudan University, which rose 11 places to reach #6 last year, and Peking and Tsinghua universities, which hold on to the top two spots for the fourth year running.
Anurag Kumar, director of IISc, says increased government science funding in recent years has enabled the university to enhance grants for new hires, invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure and encourage interdisciplinary research. “The growing talent pool augurs well for the country… The government is doing its part by enhancing its education and research budget across the board,” he says.
Brazil no longer has a university in the Top 10, as the University of Sao Paulo slips four places to #13, its lowest ever position, while half of South Africa’s eight universities have fallen. Russia’s performance is more mixed; while ten of its 24 universities have dropped places, Lomonosov Moscow State University holds on to third place amid increasing competition from China, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology climbs 81 places to #12, thanks to an improved performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
The BRICS TOP 10
| BRICS 2016 | BRICS 2017 | Institution |
| 1 | 1 | Peking University, China |
| 2 | 2 | Tsinghua University, China |
| 3 | 3 | Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation |
| 4 | 4 | University of Cape Town, South Africa |
| 7 | 5 | University of Science and Technology of China |
| 17 | 6 | Fudan University, China |
| 10 | 7 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China |
| 6 | 8 | University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa |
| 8 | 9 | Zhejiang University, China |
| 5 | 10 | National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Source: Times Higher Education |
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