THE (Times Higher Education) Ranking of the Top Indian Universities: An Analytical Study

This paper discusses about the various agencies engaged in the ranking of the universities worldwide, especially top three universities in India by the Times Higher Education indicators applied and the methodology followed for their ranking. The study focuses on the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) viz. evaluation of the role of its library in achieving the second position in the country. A comparison of the performance in terms of five indicators and the strength and weakness of the universities according to the Times Higher Education has also been made. The results of the study show that the Punjab University has been ranked number 1 by securing 38th ranking in the Times Higher Education Asia University Ranking 2015 followed by the Aligarh Muslim University at 2nd position by securing 90th position and Jawaharlal Nehru University at 3rd position among Indian Universities by securing 96th rank in the list. In 2014–2015, AMU's citation score is improved by 28.69% from the previous year which is also the highest growth among top Indian Universities. PU's citations score of 84.4 is the highest among all the top Indian Universities in 2014–2015; however, from the year 2013 to 2014, it has declined by 0.35%. During the same period, JNU's citation score has also shown a decline of 2.27%.

The study also emphasises on the measures to be taken for further improvement of performance such as efficient management of library services and resources, acquisition of more electronic resources, application of information technology products and services and introduction of Web 2.0 tools for further enhancement of the ranking.