Table of Contents
Rethinking Quality Metrics in Indian and Global Higher Education
In the race to rank, have we forgotten what education is actually for?
Higher Education ● Policy & Reform ● Global Perspectives
At the heart of every society lies its educational ecosystem — one that shapes minds, informs futures, and generates the knowledge that fuels innovation, economic growth, democratic citizenship, and social equity. Universities are not merely degree providers; they are places where ideas are nurtured, identities are formed, and societal progress is imagined. Yet in recent years, benchmarking across higher education has been increasingly dominated by global university rankings. What began as a comparative information tool has transformed into an institutional obsession.
From Times Higher Education (THE) and QS World University Rankings to India’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), league tables are now treated as definitive indicators of academic excellence. They influence government policy, shape institutional strategies, affect funding flows, and guide student choices. But beneath the allure of ranks and scores lies a critical question: do rankings genuinely reflect educational quality and societal impact, or have we reduced quality to what is most easily measurable?
The Rise and Influence of Rankings
University rankings emerged as a response to the growing complexity of higher education — promising simplicity by converting diverse institutional data into comparable scores. For students and parents, they offered guidance; for governments, instruments of benchmarking; and for institutions, symbols of global legitimacy. In India, where higher education has expanded rapidly in scale and ambition, rankings carry particular weight. According to QS World University Rankings 2026, a record 54 Indian universities featured in the global list — the highest ever. IIT Delhi emerged as India’s top institution at a global rank of 123, up from 150 in 2025 and 197 in 2024. These milestones reflect India’s growing visibility in the global academic arena. Yet they also mask deeper structural questions about what is being measured, whose strengths are highlighted, and whose contributions remain invisible.
” Rankings often neglect what students value — excellent teaching, inclusive opportunity, and meaningful learning outcomes. “
The Limitations of Current Metrics
Most global rankings place disproportionate emphasis on publications, citations, and international collaborations. While research excellence matters, it represents only one dimension of a university’s mission. Teaching quality, curriculum relevance, mentoring, and learning outcomes receive far less weight. THE’s methodology, for instance, allocates substantial importance to research environment and citation impact — meaning institutions that excel in undergraduate teaching may appear weaker, despite delivering genuine educational value. Rankings also privilege institutions with strong financial resources and established global networks, routinely undervaluing institutions serving first-generation, rural, or marginalised populations in developing countries. India’s share of global research publications rose from approximately 3.5% in 2017 to about 5.2% in 2024, yet only around 10% of this output originates from higher education institutions. Concerns around citation inflation, self-citation, and metric gaming have further raised questions about the integrity of bibliometric indicators.
Rankings such as QS assign significant weight to academic and employer reputation surveys — despite low response rates and inherent biases. Scholars have argued that such perception-based measures reinforce historical prestige rather than reflect current performance. India’s NIRF has also faced scrutiny: research published in Current Science highlights its heavy reliance on self-reported data, while a 2025 plea in the Madras High Court questioned the transparency of its verification processes.
” Institutions serving marginalised populations are routinely undervalued — their transformative impact rendered invisible by metrics built for a different world. “
Reframing Quality: What Truly Matters
To meaningfully rethink quality metrics, policymakers must revisit the core purposes of higher education — advancing research, preparing students for employment, cultivating ethical leadership, and promoting social responsibility. Teaching should matter as much as research: metrics must capture pedagogical innovation, curriculum relevance, student engagement, and learning progression. Graduation rates, employment outcomes, student satisfaction, and post-graduation achievements provide richer insights into institutional effectiveness than publication counts alone. Universities are also engines of social mobility; quality assessments should recognise community partnerships, public scholarship, and initiatives that address inequality. Frameworks such as the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings already assess sustainability and environmental responsibility — in 2025, one Indian university scored 6,287.5 out of 10,000 in such sustainability criteria. Academic integrity, freedom of inquiry, and ethical governance are equally foundational, as is recognising local and indigenous knowledge systems — a dimension of particular relevance in culturally rich contexts like India.
Emerging Frameworks and the Path Forward
Encouragingly, alternative approaches are gaining momentum. The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, evaluate institutions on sustainability, equity, and societal contribution — shifting focus from prestige to purpose. India’s National Education Policy 2020 similarly advocates a multidimensional understanding of quality, emphasising multidisciplinary education, flexible curricula, and lifelong learning. The future lies not in a single ranking but in a pluralistic quality ecosystem that values diverse forms of excellence. Research-intensive universities, teaching-focused colleges, skill-based institutions, and community colleges each have distinct missions — and each should be assessed according to its purpose. Learner-centred metrics that prioritise student journeys, competencies, and lifelong outcomes must replace the singular pursuit of institutional prestige.
Redefining Excellence for the 21st Century
In the race to rank, higher education has too often measured what is easy rather than what is meaningful. True excellence encompasses teaching and learning, research and innovation, inclusion and ethics, and relevance to society. For India, with its vast demographic scale and educational aspirations, rethinking quality metrics is not optional — it is imperative. Globally, ranking systems must evolve to illuminate strengths without reinforcing inequalities. The goal is not to abandon rankings, but to embed them within a richer mosaic of indicators that capture the real impact of higher education on individuals and societies — a vision of education that is expansive, inclusive, and genuinely transformative.
” The goal is not to abandon rankings, but to embed them within a richer mosaic of indicators that capture the real impact of higher education on individuals and societies. “
References
- QS Quacquarelli Symonds. (2025). QS World University Rankings 2026. Retrieved from https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings
- Times Higher Education. (2025). THE World University Rankings 2025: Methodology. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com
- Times Higher Education. (2025). THE Impact Rankings 2025. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/impactrankings
- Ministry of Education, Government of India. (2023). National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Retrieved from https://www.nirfindia.org
- Hazelkorn, E. (2015). Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class excellence (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Marginson, S. (2022). Global rankings and the geopolitics of higher education. Routledge.
About the Author
Dr. Vandana Tiwari is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities at Mangalayatan University, Jabalpur, with 24 years of teaching experience and 17 years in academic administration. A NAAC coordinator and NEP implementation lead, she holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya and has published 33 research works spanning sustainable development, higher education policy, labour economics, and financial inclusion. She has led multiple national higher education initiatives and guided a college to NAAC A+ accreditation. Her UGC-funded research on tourism-led economic development reflects her commitment to scholarship with real-world relevance.