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Indian Institute of Technology i.e. IIT is considered to be the most prestigious educational brand in the country. From Google’s Sundar Pichai to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella (inspired by the IITian environment) and dozens of stalwarts holding top positions in Fortune 500 companies around the world are products of this IIT system. Getting admission in IIT in India is like a dream come true and every year lakhs of youth appear for JEE Advanced exam. But when it comes to prestigious global lists like QS World University Rankings or Times Higher Education (THE), not a single Indian IIT struggles to find a place among the top 100 universities in the world. After all, why is it that the institution whose educated students are raising the flag of success all over the world, itself lags behind in the global rankings? An ex-IITian has given the answer to this question very candidly on social media, in which he has highlighted the 3 main and bitter reasons behind it.
According to the alumnus, the first and foremost reason is that the entire ecosystem of IIT revolves only around ‘placements’ and ‘packages worth crores’ instead of research and innovation. In the world’s top 100 universities like MIT, Stanford or Cambridge, about 30 to 40 percent of the ranking depends on how much high-impact research is being done there, how many international patents are being filed and how many times the research papers are being cited (Citations per Faculty). In contrast, in India, IITs are seen merely as ‘high-end job agencies’, where as soon as students take admission, they start a race to learn coding and get a package of Rs 1 crore in MNCs. Due to lack of focus on fundamental research and original inventions, IITs lag behind on global research parameters.
Global ranking agencies give a lot of weightage to the international environment while assessing any institution. Giving the second reason, the former student said that students from all over the world come to study in the universities included in the top 100 and global level professors teach. But the percentage of ‘International Students’ and ‘Foreign Faculty’ in Indian IITs is negligible i.e. almost zero. Top researchers or foreign students from around the world do not flock to India’s IITs due to stringent regulations, visa processes and less competitive salary structure. Additionally, due to the ever-increasing number of seats in the IITs, the ‘Faculty-to-Student Ratio’ has also become quite unbalanced compared to global standards, affecting the level of personal attention and mentorship.
The third most important reason is limitations in funding models and infrastructure. Global institutions like Harvard, Stanford or MIT have private endowment funds worth billions of dollars, which they get from huge donations from alumni. They use this huge amount of money to build state-of-the-art laboratories, buy expensive research equipment and give freedom to scientists. At the same time, India’s IITs largely depend on the government budget and budgetary allocations. Although IIT alumni have started giving funds in the last few years, it is still very low compared to the global level. Additionally, India does not have the deep tie-up between industries and IITs that is seen in the US or Europe, where companies directly fund research projects at universities.
However, the situation is gradually changing. Leading institutes like IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and IIT Madras have set up Research and Development (R&D) parks to improve international rankings and have started raising funds by connecting global networks of alumni. IITs are also being given greater autonomy and financial support under the ‘Institution of Eminence’ (IoE) scheme of the Education Ministry. Experts believe that if India wants to see its IITs in the global top 50 or top 100, then we have to expand our thinking beyond just ‘salary packages’ and focus on ‘cutting-edge research and global innovation’.