Over 90 vice chancellors and eminent academics from across the country attended a webinar on, ‘World University Rankings in Indian Context’, on Tuesday. Shoolini University, in collaboration with the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Delhi, conducted the virtual event.
The focus of the webinar was to develop a familiarisation with the ranking system and how rankings played an important role in the upgradation of academic culture.
The webinar started with the welcome address by Dr Amarendra Pani, Joint Director and Head, Research, Association of Indian Universities, who also introduced the panelists of the session to the participants.
The event was attended by Dr (Mrs) Pankaj Mittal (Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities, Dr Francisco J. Marmolejo (Education Advisor QF Chairpersons Office, Qatar), Prof P K Khosla (Chancellor, Shoolini University), Prof Nitin R. Karmalkar (Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University), Prof C. Raj Kumar (Vice Chancellor, O. P. Jindal Global University), Prof Atul Khosla (Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University), Mr Ritin Malhotra (Regional Director (South Asia) at Times Higher Education), Dr Ashwin Fernandes (Regional Director, QS – Middle East) and Prof Ashish Khosla (President and Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Shoolini University).
Rankings were an important part of the higher education system, the panelists opined, adding that Indian institutions needed to accept this and work towards improving research, research funding and collaborations, if they wanted to be in the global arena of higher education.
It was also observed that on the global platform, Indian higher education system was only known by IITs and some Central Universities, which constituted only 5 per cent of the Indian education system and the remaining 95 per cent, comprising state universities, deemed to be universities and private universities, also needed attention as they were significant contributors towards Indian higher education.
It was felt that the Young and New Age Universities in India had the potential to be among the world’s best universities in comparison to some of the very old and traditional universities. India needed to be at the centre-stage of education, just as it was during the Takshshila and Nalanda times, the panelists chorused.