In an interview with the Free Press Journal, one of the most renowned British education news outlets, Times Higher Education(THE), which released its annual World University rankings 2023, addresses the criticism by prominent Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) about the lack of transparency, discrepancy, in its methodologies which has led the institutes, including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, and IIT Roorkee, to call for a boycott in the participation of the rankings. Excerpts of the email interview with Ritin Malhotra, THE Regional Director (South Asia):
1. How would you address the earlier concerns raised by IITs about the lack of details on methodology, inconsistencies?
The methodology for the World University Rankings is fully transparent, and a matter of public record. Times Higher Education’s data team conducts dozens and dozens of free data masterclasses every year to provide details and to answer any questions any participants have. This has helped to make the Times Higher Education World University Rankings the most trusted global ranking system in the world – used by governments and university leaders around the world to help support their strategic direction and of course, also trusted by many millions of internationally mobile students to help them make vital study choices.
After almost 20 years of leading the field in international performance data, THE is currently reviewing the methodology of its World University Rankings, which has been largely constant for a decade, while the global higher education sector has changed dramatically and the number of participants has grown hugely, from 200 universities to 1,799 today. The planned changes have been subject to open debate over the last year, with the global higher education community, and are outlined in public here: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/digital-editions/world-university-rankings-2023-digital-edition (page 123). We very much hope and expect that the IITs will return to take part in this vital exercise in benchmarking against rigorous, trusted, and globally accepted performance data.
2. The directors of these IITs have also mentioned concerns about the institutes not being on the list of top 200 Universities compared to other world rankings. Would you like to give your perspective on the same?
This year a record 2,500 universities volunteered to submit to the rankings data process, recognising the value of taking part in this trusted global exercise – providing vital, trusted, and rigorous benchmarking data and important visibility on the world stage. This included a record number of Indian universities that have embraced the vital importance of the process.
3. IIT Guwahati, which boycotted the rankings for the last two years, has participated in THE Rankings this year. Are you aware of any particular reason that led to this decision?
Participation in the rankings remains entirely voluntary. You will need to ask IIT Guwahati to comment on their reasons for participation this year.
4. Is THE planning to be more elaborate or detailed with its methods to directly address any issues institutes might have with the rankings?
We would be delighted to work with all the IITs in cooperation to share data and to help them to benchmark themselves across a range of global metrics and to maximise their performance. Discussions have been held with the IITs and we are always reviewing our methodology. We have given a detailed explanation of our rankings methodology, and have listened to their input. In the next edition of the ranking, to be launched next year, we have incorporated some of their suggestions. Further information relating to the rankings methodology can be accessed here: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2023-methodology.
Yesterday evening at our World Academic Summit we revealed the changes to our World Rankings and we’ve opened our planned methodological changes to full, open public scrutiny and debate over several years now, as seen through a wide range of public blogs from Duncan Ross, Chief data officer, THE.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/whats-next-world-university-rankings
