Research powers IIT-M to world's top 150 institutes

Indian
Institute of
Technology-Madras has
made strident steps
towards improving its
academic reputation. It
has been ranked among
the world's top 150
institutes in seven
subjects in the recently
released QS World
University Rankings by
Subject.
Bettering its
performance from last
year when it featured
between 60th and 70th
ranks, IIT-M's civil and
structural engineering
course ranked 46th this
year. Chemical
engineering, electrical
engineering and
mechanical engineering
courses are between
the 51st and 100th
places, while the
computer science and
information systems
department, materials
science and
mathematics
departments feature
between the 101st and
150th ranks.
The by-subject rankings
are based on academic
reputation, employer
reputation, citations per
faculty, faculty-student
ratio, proportion of
international students
and proportion of
international faculty.
"It is a result of
intensifying research,
increasing faculty
recruitment, increasing
output and funding for
research. We are
moving in the right
direction," said director
Bhaskar Ramamurthi.
Academics are proud
IITs achieved these
rankings despite having
negligible international
faculty and students,
which has substantial
weightage in
determining the ranking.
The funding levels of
several universities
ranked below the IITs
are many times higher.
Besides, the
contributions of IITs to
Indian industry, space
and defence sectors are
not accounted for in
these rankings, they
said.
For these rankings, QS
Intelligence Unit (QSIU)
— a division of QS
Quacquarelli Symonds,
an international higher
education data-research
firm — evaluated 2,858
universities and ranked
678 institutions.