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Ajmal Foundation: Fountainhead of educational uplift of Muslims

The Ajmal Foundation has been working in the fields of Modern Education, Skill Development and Employment Generation, Women Empowerment, Poverty Alleviation, Relief and Rehabilitation, and Environment and Health…reports Dr Shujaat Ali Quadri (Chairman of Muslim Students Organisation of India and Community Leader)

In post1991 economic reforms in India, Muslims of India have undergone social, educational and political churning. Apart from the government support for uplift of Muslims and planning, Muslim philanthropists also came forward to help the struggling community. Among these good Samaritans, the name of Badruddin Ajmal, madarsa-educated theologian-politician-philanthropist-educationist, stands out. In a limited period of time, he has helped a significant number of Muslim youths from humble background, including those from madarsas, in pursuing prestigious courses like Engineering, MBBS, MBA, and going for higher studies in various streams. Plus, a number of students reared at institutes run by his foundation have been able to crack different competitive examinations like state civil services and UPSC.

Ajmal Foundation: Pivot of Education for Poor

The pivot of Ajmal’s educational endeavours is the Ajmal Foundation is a Public Charitable Trust. Registered under Charitable Trust Act, 1882, it was established in the year 2005 with a head office located in the district of Hojai, Assam. It is a non-political, non-profitable and non-commercial organization.

The Ajmal Foundation has been working in the fields of Modern Education, Skill Development and Employment Generation, Women Empowerment, Poverty Alleviation, Relief and Rehabilitation, and Environment and Health. The organization has been running as many as 25 educational institutions all over the State of Assam with consistently excellent and very impressive results and implementing various schemes and projects in different locations of the country for development of the weaker sections of the society.

With the spirit of serving humanity in need, the trustees of the organisation have undertaken multifarious schemes and projects to serve the downtrodden sections of the society and thus the volume of activities has enlarged manifold.  In order to reach out to the poorest of the poor and the neediest section of the society in the remote and rural background of the country, the organisation in collaboration with like-minded social organisations is implementing various schemes and projects within the organisational framework.  In doing so, time bound implementation and efficient delivery of the assigned project /tasks maintaining full proof transparency has always remained as top priority of the trust.

25 Colleges, 25 Avenues of Learning

In the education field, the foundation has 25 institutions including one B Ed College (Nazir Ajmal Memorial College of Education), one Law College (Ajmal Law College), Maryam Ajmal Women’s College of Science and Technology (Degree) and Maryam Ajmal Women’s College of Science and Technology (H.S.) at Hojai. Besides, a number of assisting coaching institutes are run by the foundation.

Ajmal Super-40

The Ajmal Foundation is running a dedicated Guiding Centre with brilliant academicians in our Campus Area for the Brilliant and poor Students, namely “Ajmal Super-40” and providing them, free of cost, required tuition and guidance to prepare them for cracking the entrance examinations of the vocational and professional courses such as Medical, Engineering and Law etc.

The brainchild of the Ajmal family, the AJMAL SUPER 40 concept was mooted in 2016 and the Ajmal Foundation gave concrete shape to the project that intended to establish an institution of excellence in order to prepare students from educationally backward areas and from disadvantaged sections of society to compete with the students from urban and affluent sections to prove their potential merit in the qualifying examinations for medical and engineering studies.

Today, the Ajmal Super 40 has established a name for itself in All India Level competitive examinations as it has been able to give wings to the dreams of these poor but meritorious students. In successive years the Ajmal Super 40 students have dazzled in NEET & JEE examinations and have validated the Ajmal Foundation’s conviction that if proper care, attention and quality teaching is provided to the rural and poor students, their innate talent can flourish and they can show excellent results.

IAS Academy

As the success and brilliance of the Ajmal alumni are creating positive ripples across the state and beyond, the Ajmal Foundation management headed by M Badruddin Ajmal and Sirajuddin Ajmal are constantly engaged in sustaining and improving the efforts to further enhance the entire education eco- system. The very latest addition to this effort is the Ajmal IAS Academy and other coaching programmes launched recently to equip and empower the rural educated youths to excel at par with their urban counterparts.

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Education UAE News

Back to school in UAE

The number of transported students from universities, colleges and other educational institutions stands at more than 16,000, with more than 800 buses and 800 drivers allocated to provide them with services…reports Asian Lite News

Over a million students have returned to school on Monday after UAE has ended most of the Covid-19-related restrictions.

In updated Covid-19 protocols, authorities clarified that periodic PCR tests would not be required starting from tomorrow. Symptomatic students, however, will need to test.

However, masks remain mandatory in closed spaces, but social distancing is no longer mandatory inside schools and buses.

Earlier, Hazza Al Mansouri, Official Spokesman of the UAE’s Education Sector, stressed that all students can attend classes regardless of their vaccination status, while university students who are unvaccinated for medical reasons and those with vaccination exemption can present the PCR tests required for the green pass system on the Al Hosn app to enter the university premises.

Meanwhile, Emirates Transport (ET), the largest provider of school transport services in the UAE, announced its full readiness to transport nearly 241,000 male and female school and university students for the academic year 2022-2023 using 7,217 busses equipped with high safety and security systems.

As part of its intensive preparations to welcome the new school year, ET has concluded the activities of its annual initiative “School Transport Week”, which featured the implementation of a package of training programmes, awareness talks and accompanying events at stations and locations associated with the regions at the state level and in collaboration with a group of public and private agencies.

Emirates Transport explained that the initiative sought to ensure a successful and efficient launch of the school transport service for all students on the first day of school, whether in schools or universities, where drivers, transport and safety managers and assigned work crews are fully prepared to perform the required tasks and ensure the delivery of all school transport requirements.

Faryal Tawakul, Acting CEO of Emirates Transport, said ET would provide school transport services for 170,000 students studying in 504 government schools, using 4,161 buses, including 100 buses for students of determination, 4,200 drivers and 4,155 bus supervisors. It will also transport 54,794 students studying in 122 private schools, using 2,256 buses and 2,256 drivers.

Additionally, the number of transported students from universities, colleges and other educational institutions stands at more than 16,000, with more than 800 buses and 800 drivers allocated to provide them with services.

For public and private schools, Jasim Al Marzouqi, Executive Director of School Transport at ET, said 6,417 buses would be ready to make daily school trips for more than 225,000 students attending 625 public and private schools.

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Abu Dhabi Education UAE News

Masdar completes inaugural course in Rwanda

WiSER Pioneers is a year-long program, hosted annually since 2018, that offers women aged 25 to 35 access to bespoke educational workshops and global networking opportunities to inspire sustainability leadership…reports Asian Lite News

Masdar’s Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) platform today completed its first field-based course in Rwanda to teach young women in rural off-grid communities to harness the potential of clean energy solutions, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Launched in the Gatsibo district of Rwanda, the course, titled “Rural Energy Access: Designing and implementing inclusive community energy systems,” is the inaugural offering of WiSER Cares, a multidisciplinary initiative launched this year to engage WiSER Pioneers in on-the-ground learning experiences that promote sustainable community development. WiSER Pioneers is a year-long program, hosted annually since 2018, that offers women aged 25 to 35 access to bespoke educational workshops and global networking opportunities to inspire sustainability leadership.

Fourteen young women, including nine WiSER Pioneers and five Rwandan professionals, completed the six-day WiSER Cares course, comprised of a series of lectures and hands-on projects led by global experts in renewable energy and sustainable development, with a focus on four core disciplines: 1) energy systems technology and service models; 2) energy access business models and financing; 3) community inclusion, social change and human development; and 4) climate adaptation.

“We are proud to offer the WiSER Cares Rural Energy Access course as part of Masdar’s long-running effort to equip young women with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead their communities and the world in building a more sustainable future,” said Dr. Lamya Fawwaz, Masdar’s Executive Director of Brand & Strategic Initiatives, and WiSER Program Director.

“Through a multidisciplinary approach that emphasizes development of practical skills, strong technical fundamentals and realistic business models, WiSER Cares aims to facilitate productive cultural exchange and inspire participants to work together to achieve SDG 7 by accelerating the clean energy transition in rural off-grid communities,” added Dr. Fawwaz.

Experts leading the course included Co-Executive Director of Energy Action Partners in Malaysia, Ayu Abdullah; Off-Grid Technical Advisor, Energy Action Partners in Rwanda, Ivan Asiimwe; Co-Founder and Team Leader of Love at Hands in Rwanda, Erica Matasi Gateka; and Co-Director of Energy Action Partners and CEO of ClearSky Power, Boston, Dr. Scott Kennedy.

The WiSER platform was officially launched by Masdar and the Zayed Sustainability Prize on the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 with the goal of inspiring women to play an active role in addressing global sustainability challenges.

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-Top News Asia News Education

Taliban minister dubs ban on girls’ education a ‘cultural constraint’

Defending the Taliban, he said that the strict views of most Afghan people on the issue of education and women caused the girls’ schools to remain closed, reports Asian Lite News

Acting Talibani appointed education minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Noorullah Munir said that the schools in the country were closed for girls due to ‘cultural constraints’, media reports said.

In the month of March, the Taliban administration in Afghanistan has announced that girls’ high schools will be closed, hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven months. The backtracking by the Taliban led to female students above the sixth grade not being able to attend school.

Munir, during his visit to Khost province, stated that girls’ schools had been shut down due to cultural constraints. “People are not sensitive to the education of their girls, but to their girls leaving the house, and the culture of Afghans is quite sensitive in this area. You know better that the Islamic Emirate is attempting to reach an agreement with the people and start this process,” he said, reported Tolo News.

However, in stark contrast to what Munir said, the Taliban-appointed Deputy Minister of Education Sayed Ahmad Shahidkhail on Sunday noted that the delay in reopening girls’ schools was caused by problems in the curriculum for girls.

Munir denied these reports that the closure of the girls’ schools was caused by the change in the curriculum which suggests that even people inside of the so-called department are not on the same page. Munir said that the Afghan curriculum has issues and that there is currently no plan to change it.

“We have never said that we would begin working on the curriculum right away. Bringing changes to the curriculum is the right of every nation, people, and every government,” he stated.

“Three times work has been done on the available curriculum, still this issue has not been completed. God willing, we are responsible to our people over this issue, whether it is a man or a woman,” said Sayed Ahmad Shahidkhail.

Munir admits that more than 5,000 of the 20,000 schools in the country do not have buildings and need reconstruction and renovation, as per the media portal.

Earlier, the Taliban claimed that the closing of girls’ schools above sixth grade was “temporary” adding that it was not a “permanent ban.”

In an interview with CGTN TV, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi said, “this suspension is a temporary suspension, and it is not a permanent ban, it has never been called a ban.”

Defending the Taliban, he said that the strict views of most Afghan people on the issue of education and women caused the girls’ schools to remain closed, reported Tolo News.

“There is a large percentage of society that has very strict ideas of what women can do and what they cannot do, and for that reason, the government is trying to take an approach that is gradual, it takes those people that do not understand some of the basic Islamic rights of Afghan citizens or of any human being, and the human rights, to try to convince them. It is due to lack of knowledge of that part of the society,” he said.

Balkhi added that they are trying to solve this problem.

Meanwhile, girls who have been prevented from going to school for more than eleven months are asking the Taliban to reopen schools for them, reported Tolo News.

“When women are not allowed to see a namhram, then who should treat a woman when she gets sick?” asked Fariha, a student.

“It is very disappointing and we ask the Islamic Emirate to reopen our schools,” said a student.

“If a government wants to have a progressive and developed society, there is no other way except with education and interaction with the community,” said Waheeda Adalatjo, university lecturer.

It has been over 300 days since girls’ schools have been closed, Kabul’s officials have said that it depends upon the order of the leader of the Taliban.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has drawn heavy criticism across the world for a decree banning girls from school above grade sixth. (ANI)

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Education Qatar

Texas A&M University invites new students to campus

The current students who acted as ambassadors of the university participated in various training sessions earlier in the year…reports Asian Lite News

Texas A&M University at Qatar, a Qatar Foundation partner university, welcomed its incoming freshman students during Aggie Life 101, a three-day orientation program.

Aggie Life 101 is a series of seminars, workshops and activities designed to teach students about Texas A&M and its unique traditions, as well as what it takes to succeed at a world-renowned engineering institution.

Students and graduates of Texas A&M University are called “Aggies” and that tradition continues at Texas A&M’s branch campus in Doha. The orientation showcased the opportunities Texas A&M at Qatar offers to students to help them become engineering leaders — from social clubs and activities to transformative educational experiences, such as international service-learning trips, study abroad and undergraduate research.

Dr. Ryan McLawhon ’03, Executive Director of Student Affairs and Academic Services at Texas A&M at Qatar, welcomed the Class of 2026 to campus. He also introduced the Aggie Core Values and the Aggie Code of Honor, two driving principles that set apart an Aggie education.

“Texas A&M is committed to developing engineering leaders in the State of Qatar,” McLawhon said, “not only through the formal engineering education, but also through our comprehensive core curriculum and student life programs. The curriculum at Texas A&M University at Qatar, both inside and outside of the classroom, is strategically designed with Texas A&M’s core values of respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and selfless service in mind. We are extremely excited to welcome these new Aggies to Texas A&M at Qatar and to help prepare them to solve society’s future challenges.”

Addressing the students, Student Government Association President Afnan Ahmed said, “The community at Texas A&M at Qatar is like none other. For me it is truly a second home and I’m sure it will be for you too very soon. As a fellow Aggie myself, my one piece of advice to you is to be open and to fully embrace any and all opportunities that come your way, whether that may be academic, extracurricular, exchange trips, and most importantly developing the best relationships with the people around you.” 

The current students who acted as ambassadors of the university participated in various training sessions earlier in the year. Orientation leaders managed the various sessions and also conducted tours of the Texas A&M Engineering Building. This year, several students from the main campus at College Station, Texas, also participated in the Aggie Life 101 sessions at Texas A&M University at Qatar.

Ahmad Afzal, one of the orientation leaders, said that the key skills he learned during the training sessions was communication and problem solving. “It is a lot of work, but I am having fun. Aggie Life 101 helps new students settle into university life. I have been a nervous freshman myself, and I know how stressful that can be, and I am glad to have the opportunity to help make it a little easier for them.”

Maryam Abdul Ghani, an Electrical Engineering freshman said that it was exciting to meet new classmates and upperclassmen during the orientation.

“I am very happy to be here, and to meet other students,” she said. “The orientation sessions have been very informative and the orientation leaders have been very helpful. The campus tour was quite interesting: When you look at it from outside, you can’t fully understand how big and amazing it is once you enter. From classrooms, to state-of-the-art labs, to student and community areas, there is a lot. I am looking forward to starting my journey here.”

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Education India News

4 siblings from UP crack Civil Services exam

His sister, Kshama Mishra, who was also preparing for the Civil Services, could not clear it during her first three attempts…reports Asian Lite News

Four siblings – two brothers and two sisters – who grew up quite impoverished in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalganj, have cracked the UPSC Civil Services Examination, and all are IAS and IPS officers.

Their father, Anil Prakash Mishra, who was a manager at a Gramin bank, said: “Though I was a manager at a Gramin bank, I never compromised with my children’s quality of education. I wanted them to get good jobs and my children also focused on their studies.”

Yogesh Mishra, the eldest of the four siblings, is an IAS officer. He completed his early education from Lalganj and then did his engineering from the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology.

He took up a job in Noida but continued to prepare for the Civil Services. In 2013, he cleared the UPSC examination and became an IAS officer.

His sister, Kshama Mishra, who was also preparing for the Civil Services, could not clear it during her first three attempts.

However, she cleared the exams during her fourth attempt and is now an IPS officer.

The third sibling, Madhuri Mishra, after graduating from a college in Lalganj, moved to Allahabad to pursue her Masters.

After this, she successfully cleared her UPSC exams in 2014 and became an IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.

Lokesh Mishra, who is now in Bihar cadre, is the youngest sibling and had ranked 44th in the UPSC exam in 2015.

The proud father was quoted as saying: “What more can I asked for? I hold my head high today because of my children.”

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Education Europe India News

No provision to accommodate Ukraine-returned medical students: India Govt

Pawar further inform the Upper House that no permission has been given by the NMC to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university…reports Asian Lite News

There is no provision to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to Indian medical colleges, the Parliament was told on Tuesday.

“There are no such provisions in Indian Medical Council Act 1956 & National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as well as the regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to Indian medical colleges,” Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Bharti Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question of the delay in accommodating those medical students.

In a response to a question raised by CPI MP Binoy Viswam, the MoS Health Bharati Pawar has stated that from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) received information about 20,000 Indian students who have returned from Ukraine.

 Foreign Medical Students/Graduates are either covered under “Screening Test Regulations, 2002” or “Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021”. There are no such provisions in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as well as the Regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to Indian medical colleges.

Students who were stranded amid the Russia-Ukraine war, arrive at IGI Airport in New Delhi. (Photo Anupam Gautam_IANS)

Pawar further inform the Upper House that no permission has been given by the NMC to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute/university.

As per information received from MEA, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv has communicated with all the concerned Universities in Ukraine for providing transcripts and other documents in a smooth manner to the students.

“All details have been provided on the website of the Embassy to assist students to address any related issues'” she added.

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Education India News

NCERT urged to rethink deletion of chapters on weather, monsoon

Across the world, including in India, students have been more and more concerned about the drastic changes wrought by environmental degradation, of which climate change is an example….reports Asian Lite News

Dismayed by several recent changes in school syllabus related to the weather, climate change, and even the Indian monsoon, a teachers’ body has urged the NCERT to rethink these deletions from the school environmental syllabus and bring in different facets of the climate crisis.

Teachers Against the Climate Crisis (TACC) has claimed the NCERT has removed an entire chapter on Greenhouse Effect from Class 11 Geography syllabus; an entire chapter on weather, climate weather systems, and water from the Class 7 syllabus; and information about the Indian monsoon from the Class 9 syllabus.

TACC, a non-funded, non-party organisation that seeks to promote understanding about climate and has members across universities and research institutions across India, said it appreciates NCERT’s efforts to manage learning deficit in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic by seeking to reduce students’ workload by culling material – as explained on its website – however, “none of these concerns apply to fundamental issues such as climate change science, the Indian monsoon, and the other chapters that have been deleted.”

Stating that the relevant climate change science as being continuously updated via thousands of peer-reviewed papers published each year as well as very important compilations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC’s) latest Assessment Reports and India’s own report on climate change published by an agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, a statement from TACC said, “It is extremely important that senior school students all over India are conveyed the essence of such updated information in an accessible, easy-to-understand manner.”

Across the world, including in India, students have been more and more concerned about the drastic changes wrought by environmental degradation, of which climate change is an example. “Young people’s actions and interventions are crucial to meeting this most fundamental challenge. This action needs to be predicted upon systematic knowledge of the reality of climate change, its causes, and its enormous reach. Students need to understand the complexity of the climate crisis if they are to respond and engage intelligently with it,” TACC said.

Class 10 students, however, will no longer be able to learn and be inspired by popular people’s movements such as Chipko movement or Narmada Bachao Andolan in their ‘Popular Struggles and Movements’ lessons since the chapter on them has been taken out of their ‘Democratic Politics’ syllabus, it said, and urged the NCERT to rethink its decision about deletions of these topics from the environmental syllabi.

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Education India News

Jamia alumna offered funded PhD fellowships from 6 varsities

Uzma has chosen Lehigh University and will be joining in August 2022. She has also been awarded a one-time relocation allowance by the university, the JMI statement added…reports Asian Lite News

Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) alumna Uzma Khan has received offers to pursue fully-funded PhD from six prestigious US universities.

She has completed her MSc Electronics course from the Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, JMI, in 2021.

Uzma had applied for 100 per cent fellowships in nine US universities and received offers from six of them. Her research area will be ‘Underwater wireless communication and signal processing’.

As per a JMI statement, Uzma has been offered a monthly stipend for on-campus jobs of research and teaching assistant at six US universities, as well as 100 per cent tuition fee waiver.

The names of these universities are — Lehigh University, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, SUNY (State University of New York) Buffalo, SUNY Albany and University of New Hampshire.

Uzma has chosen Lehigh University and will be joining in August 2022. She has also been awarded a one-time relocation allowance by the university, the JMI statement added.

She said, “I am joining Lehigh University because my educational qualifications and research interest is in coherance with my potential supervisor there.”

The wireless and signal processing lab she is going to join is conducting cutting-edge research on current and future technologies and will be best suited for her research area – Underwater wireless communication and signal processing, the university statement said.

Uzma became eligible to apply to US universities after securing good scores in IELTS and GRE.

After sending e-mails to professors with whom her research interest coincides, she subsequently qualified technical interviews with a committee of members from the lab and department she wanted to get admitted to, JMI said.

Uzma has also secured first position in her class while pursuing her Masters studies at Jamia and for this she will be awarded a gold medal in the upcoming convocation of the university.

She has also received a provisional offer for ‘Inspire Fellowship’ by the Department of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Earlier, she was hired as a systems engineer at TCS and Infosys but she declined the offer as she always knew where her interests lay and that was ‘research’.

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Education India News

IISc ranked world’s best research varsity

Among new entrants, University of Madras debuted in the 541-550 band, while Chandigarh University debuted in the 801-1,000 bracket as the youngest varsity, having been established less than 10 years ago…reports Asian Lite News

Regaining the pole position among public and private institutions from the country, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore was ranked at 155th place in the latest QS World University Rankings.

The premier institute also continued to prove its mettle in quality research, as it emerged as the global leader in the citations per faculty (CpF) indicator in the latest rankings. According to the indicator, when universities are adjusted for faculty size, IISc is the world’s best research university. It achieved a perfect score of 100/100 on this metric.

Further, as the fastest rising South Asian university on the QS rankings’ top 200 list, IISc gained 31 places year-on-year (YoY), up from 186th position last year.

The nineteenth edition of the international university rankings by global higher education analysts QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) featured 41 Indian universities, of which 12 improved their rankings, 12 remained stable, 10 saw a decline and seven were new entrants.

This year’s QS World University Rankings is the largest ever, with 1,418 institutions across 100 locations, up from 1,300 last year. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) finished a record-extending 11th consecutive year as world number one. The University of Cambridge rose to second place, while Stanford University remained in the third position.

Following IISc were some of the leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), all of whom improved their standing, while IIT Indore debuted at 396th rank (see box).

Among declared public institutions of eminence, while IISc, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur attained a higher rank, University of Delhi and University of Hyderabad saw a decline while Banaras Hindu University’s rank remained unchanged. On the other hand, two of the declared private institutions of eminence maintained the same rank — Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) — while O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) rose to the next band of 651-700.

JGU is not only India’s top ranked university with a focus solely on social sciences, arts and humanities but also the only Indian non-STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and non-medicine university to find a place in the QS World University Rankings 2023.

Among new entrants, University of Madras debuted in the 541-550 band, while Chandigarh University debuted in the 801-1,000 bracket as the youngest varsity, having been established less than 10 years ago.

IIT Guwahati (37th for CpF), IIT Roorkee (47th for CpF) and the University of Madras (48th for CpF) are also among the global top 50 research institutions.

In terms of other indicators, the University of Calcutta (801-1,000) recorded the highest percentage of female students (63 per cent), followed by the University of Mumbai (1,001-1,200) with 57 per cent. Amity University (1,001-1,200), on the other hand, employed the highest percentage of female faculty (58 per cent), followed by the University of Mumbai (56 per cent).

However, India continues to struggle in indicators such as institutional teaching capacity and QS’ internationalisation metrics. Thirty of India’s 41 ranked universities have suffered decline in its Faculty/Student Ratio (FSR) indicator, with only four recording improvements. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (1,001-1,200) is the best-performing local institution for the proportion of international faculty, ranking 411th globally, while Amity University (1,001-1,200) is the national leader for the proportion of international students as it ranked 542nd globally.

According to QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter, while the latest edition of the rankings reflects the excellent work that several Indian varsities are doing to improve their research footprint, the dataset also suggests that the Indian higher education sector still struggles to provide adequate teaching capacity.

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