How University Rankings Are Reshaping Quality, Culture, and the Future of Higher Education

Ninad Patwardhan, Faculty of Psychology, FLAME University, explains how global rankings shape teaching, research, and academic culture, and how sustainability, inclusivity, and accountability are redefining higher education in India.

How do you think the rankings influence teaching, research and overall academic culture in a department?

Ranking systems, such as QS World University Rankings, examine the performance of universities on various dimensions, such as research and academic excellence, employability, representation of international faculty and students, faculty-student ratio, and sustainability. With  private universities mushrooming and international universities setting up their offshore campuses, the education sector has become extremely competitive and increasingly more student-centric. Today’s students are exposed to multiple universities through academic fairs, campus visits, outreach sessions, social media marketing and word of mouth. Faced with multiple options, students have a challenging task of deciding where to pursue their higher studies from. In such a scenario, students will inevitably veer towards universities with higher rankings. If universities have to sustain in the long run, they have no choice but to up their game on all the above dimensions. And thus, university ranking system will only push the universities towards excellence- be it in teaching, research, or administrative processes.

In your view, how can institutions balance the pressure of rankings with maintaining quality education and research integrity?

There are several ways in which institutions can balance the pressure of rankings with maintaining quality education and research integrity. First, universities must move towards a hybrid-work model for their full-time/tenured faculty: encouraging faculty to work from campus three days a week (scheduling on-campus time for teaching, administrative and student mentoring responsibilities)  and to work remotely the remaining two- three days of the week (scheduling the remaining time for research responsibilities) during the teaching semester. Studies have found positive effects of hybrid-work arrangements for both the employees and organizations. Second, offering a paid sabbatical (e.g., a term/semester off) to tenured professors for pursuing their research work can also significantly improve the quality of research output.

How do you see new parameters like sustainability, inclusivity, and research accountability shaping the future of higher education in India?

With parameters like sustainability, inclusivity, and research accountability becoming increasingly important, higher education in India is witnessing a paradigm shift. Higher education- thanks to National Education Policy (NEP2020)- is now emphasizing the need to provide students with tools to become changemakers and effective problem solvers- and not passive recipients of information. What lies at the centerstage is experiential, project-based learning, and not rote memorization.

Author: Prof. Ninad Patwardhan, Faculty of Psychology,  FLAME University.