Indian Higher Education

Abstract

Since the year 2013, most pressing research questions have taken root in the mind of researcher when newlineshe was made aware of the survey results of Times Higher Education - World University Rankings newline2012-13 list. 1 It was very disturbing to notice that at that point of time, there was not even a single newlineIndian institution/university among the top 225 world universities list in the world. Alarmingly, with a newlinegradual decent in position as years passed by, now in year 2021, the top most Indian institution s newlineranking has further dropped down to 314 in the world ranking list. This made the researcher question newlineherself - Why are Indian universities not globally competitive? What strategies should Indian newlineuniversities adopt to be among the global top 250 universities in the world? newline newlineIn spite of having a glorious historic evidence that India had established one of the world s first newlineuniversities in Takshashila, flourished from 600 BC to 500 AD, according to Times Higher Education newline- World University Ranking list 2021, 2 India is still struggling to be among the top 300 universities in newlinethe world. Being an administrator in the field of Indian higher education for more than a decade, the newlineresearcher has been deeply affected and after various verifications through other sources, have newlineunderstood it is a serious concern for the Indian higher educational institutions. newline newlineThis gave birth to the research question How and what strategies/practices/methodologies are to be newlineadopted by the Indian Universities to be globally competitive in their most crucial aspects of newlineuniversity administration? newline newlineThe researcher comprehends that there is a great need to understand the best practices being followed newlinein the higher education domain across the world and also believes that a study of best practices andamp; newlineinnovative strategies will help in developing findings that would imperatively bridge the quality gap newlinethat is existing in most of the universities within India while competing across the globe. newline newline1 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2013/world- newlineranking#!/page/0/length/25/locations/IN/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/undefined newline2 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2021/world- newlineranking#!/page/0/length/25/locations/IN/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats newline newlineRoja Reddy Meka, 2022 Ph.D. Thesis newline newlineJain (Deemed-to-be University) 11 newlineAt this crucial point, this research study endeavours to understand why Indian universities are not at newlinepar with the global standards, understanding the most crucial parameters to define a world-class newlineuniversity, capture the practices/strategies adopted by world-class universities to make themselves newlineglobally competitive, benchmarking the best practices, analyzing where top Indian universities stand newlinein comparison to world s top universities, identifying the gaps under each parameter, offer newlinerecommendation to aspiring Indian universities to become globally competitive. newline newlineFor this study, data is collected through survey questionnaires, personal interviews and case study newlinemethods. Tools like R andamp; SPSS software, MS - Excel, Tidyr, ggplot packages are utilised for data newlinepreparation andamp; analysis. A total of 15 respondents from world-class international universities and top newlineIndian Universities have participated in this study. Under the comparison between top Indian newlineUniversities and world-class international universities, it is identified that significant differences are newlineobserved in aspects of university characteristics, teaching andamp; learning; research andamp; incubation; human newlineresources, governance andamp; quality assurance; funding andamp; financial practices. newline newlineThe tentative recommendations offered by the researcher on strategies and framework to become newlineglobally competitive can be used by aspiring Indian universities, higher educational institutions, newlinepromoters of educational institutes, Indian ranking bodies, assessment and accreditation bodies, newlinegovernment organisations, policy makers in field of Indian higher education, state governments and newlinefellow researchers. While there is no one point solution, the present study will draw a logical newlineconclusion and observations to make the universities and higher educational institutions more newlinecompetitive. The observations/recommendations are not all inclusive but competitive for higher newlineeducation institutions to benchmark. Furthermore, as the results are based on the empirical study newlineobservations that are very broad, more details in implementation and microlevel strategising can be newlinefurther explored by the higher educational institutions. newline