Lok Sabha Question No. 1276 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-11
Subject: Increasing Visibility of Indian Universities in International Rankings
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Sunil Dattatray Tatkare

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1276 ANSWERED ON 11.12.2023

## Increasing Visibility of Indian Universities in International Rankings

## 1276 SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE:

Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  there  is  increasing  visibility  of  Indian  Universities  in  International  rankings reflecting the expansion of India's higher education system;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether it is also a fact that the country's research output has also increased significantly during the last 5 years;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to attract foreign students to study in India?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)

(a)  &  (b):  Ministry  of  Education  (MoE)  had  launched  National  Institutional  Ranking Framework (NIRF) in September 2015 to galvanize Indian institutions towards a competitive environment  that  exists  in  the  today's  world.  Total  number  of  institutes  participation  has increased from 2,426 in 2016 to 5,553 in 2023. This has created a competitive atmosphere and resultant in overall improvement of infrastructure, research output and quality education. Due to such concerted effort of Government of India, the Indian higher education Institutions ranked  in  'QS  World  University  Rankings'  has  increased  from  9  in  World  University Ranking (WUR) 2014 to 45 in WUR 2024. Further, the number of Indian Higher education Institutions  has  also  increased  from  49  in  2019  to  91  in  2024  in  Times  Higher  Education (THE) World University Rankings.

(c)&  (d):  Government  of  India  has  taken  numerous  efforts  to  enhance  the  Research  & Development (R&D) expenditure and created adequate opportunities for the researchers and also  taken  various  steps  to  increase  opportunities  for  research  students  pursuing  Ph.D.  and Post-Doctoral research. The number of scientific publications has increased from 24,110 in

1999 to 2,78,496 in year 2022. As per the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Science & Engineering Indicators 2022 report of the United States, India's position globally in scientific publications,  has  improved  from  7th  position  in  2010  to  3rd  position  in  2020.  India  also occupies  3rd  rank  in  terms  of  the  number  of  PhDs  awarded  in  Science  and  Engineering (S&E) as per S&E Indicators, 2022, NSF. The total number of publications has also increased from  661,912  from  (2012-2016)  to  1,012,624  in  (2017-2021).  Scholarly  output  has  been increased from 1,07,193 papers in 2016 to 1,49,213 papers in 2020.

With  an  aim  to  promote  research  in  Higher  education  ecosystem,  the  Government  has promulgated the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023 on 14 th August, 2023 to provide high level strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the fields  of  natural  sciences  including  mathematical  sciences,  engineering  and  technology, environmental  and  earth  sciences,  health  and  agriculture,  and  scientific  and  technological interfaces  of  humanities  and  social  sciences,  to  promote,  monitor  and  provide  support  as required for such research and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Further, the government has also taken the initiative of establishment of Research Parks at IIT  Madras,  IIT  Bombay,  IIT  Kharagpur,  IIT  Delhi,  IIT  Guwahati,  IIT  Hyderabad,  IIT Gandhinagar  and  IISc  Bangalore  and  implemented  various  schemes  such  as  Uchchatar Avishkar  Yojana  (UAY),  Impacting  Research  Innovation  and  Technology  (IMPRINT), Impactful  Policy  Research  in  Social  Science(IMPRESS),  Scheme  for  Trans-Disciplinary Research  for  India's  Developing  Economy  (STRIDE),  Scheme  for  promotion  of  Research and Academic Collaboration (SPARC), National Initiative for Design Innovation (NIDI),Scheme for Transformational and Advanced Research in Sciences (STARS)etc. are also  implemented  in  the  Ministry  of  Education  for  promotion  of  research  ecosystem  of country's Higher Education Institutes.

(e):  National  Education  Policy  2020  emphasizes  on  internationalization  with  a  focus  on promoting  India  as  a  global  study  destination.  To  achieve  this  objective,  Ministry  of Education (MoE) launched 'Study in India' Programme on 18 th  April 2018 with the aim to attract foreign students to Indian higher educational institutions (HEIs).

University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued Guidelines for Admission and Supernumerary seats of International Students in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes  in  Higher  Educational  Institutions(HEIs)  in  India  through  which  HEIs  may create up to 25% supernumerary seats for international students, over and above of their total sanctioned enrolment for Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes.

Also,  Indian  Institutes  of  Technology  (IITs)  have  provision  for  supernumerary  seats  for foreign nationals (who are not citizens of India (by birth or naturalized) and/or are OCI/PIO card holders) with a cap of 10% of total number of seats in every course.

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