Abstract: Indian higher education system is one of the largest and fastest-growing in the world. However, despite the rapid growth in the number of institutions and enrollments, Indian universities have been generally missing from the top 200 positions in the global rankings of universities. Notwithstanding the flaws and narrow focus of the ranking methodologies, they do influence the ministries all over the world by providing them quantifiable parameters to track progress of higher education institutions. There is a surge in ministerial efforts in both developed and developing countries, including Russia, China, Japan, France, Germany, Nigeria, etc. to get their respective universities in the global rankings. India is no exception in this race. It launched National Institutional Ranking Framework – led by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2016 and “Institutions of Eminence” (IoE) scheme in 2017 to select 20 institutions, 10 each in public and private sector, with an objective of getting these institutions among top 500 in next 10 years and among top 100 eventually in the world university rankings.
The presentation will provide an overview of the recent developments in the Indian higher education system with an emphasis on the “Institutions of Eminence” initiative with special reference to one of the leading private universities in India, Shiv Nadar University, that has been recommended by the government appointed panel for an IoE status.