Browse the full 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Rankings 2023 results

The number of South 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn universities in the top 200 of Times Higher Education¡¯s 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Rankings has climbed to a five-year high, this year¡¯s figures show.

There are 32 universities from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in the top 200 this year ¨C a marked rise from 24 universities in 2022 and higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when 25?institutions from South 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ made the cut.

Pakistan leads the charge, with 10 universities in the top 200 this year, up from six last year.

Among them, the highest ranking institution is Quaid-i-Azam 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, which rose from 116th to 98th place. Originally known as Islamabad 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, it started as a postgraduate institution with a research focus but has expanded to teaching and undergraduate studies. Its overall score improved from 41.9 last year to 46.0 this year.

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Saeeda Shah, a Pakistan-born academic and former professor of education at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Leicester, said the country¡¯s improvement can be traced back to policies under Atta-ur-Rahman, an education minister in the early 2000s who prioritised doctoral research.

¡°On the one hand, they made it a requirement that people should have a PhD when they joined the university staff¡­those who were already university teachers were supported to get research degrees,¡± she said.

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Informal contributions, especially by women, have also helped develop mentorships, networks and on-the-ground research ¨C other key ingredients for improving quality, Dr Shah said.

This year¡¯s top 200 list also includes two institutions from Bangladesh for the first time: the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Dhaka, which moves up from the 251-300 band to 186th place; and North South 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, which was not ranked last year and is now 192nd.

India, which has traditionally been a larger contributor to the top 200 ranks than its neighbours, had only a slight boost in representation in this year¡¯s league tables, with 18 universities ¨C one more than last year. Meanwhile, its highest-ranking university, the Indian Institute of Science, slipped to 48th place ¨C its lowest rank since 2015, when it first entered the ranking.

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Further north, Iran improved significantly in this year¡¯s rankings, with 65 universities in the 2023 rankings, up from 58 last year, and nine institutions in the top 100 ¨C three more than last year.

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Its rise comes amid continued upheaval in the country following the death of Mahsa Amini, who died last September while in custody for wearing her hijab ¡°improperly¡±. 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ students have been at the forefront of nationwide protests, with thousands of them arrested for participating, while academics were laid off for expressing solidarity.

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, professor of global thought and comparative philosophies at SOAS 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of London, said the anti-government demonstrations were ¡°a direct effect of a highly educated society outgrowing a conservative state¡±.

Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, its government has overseen a ¡°vast expansion¡± of the higher education sector. Over the past few decades, a ¡°massive¡± rise in student numbers has created increased capacity for global research, particularly in the hard sciences ¨C resulting in ¡°impressive¡± growth in domestic capacity despite sanctions, he said.

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Between 2017 and 2021 there was a 46 per cent?increase in Iran¡¯s research, as measured by publications. By 2021, its output in life sciences surged 75 per cent above 2017 levels; for clinical and health research, that figure rose 68 per cent.

But these gains come amid a bleaker picture for the sector, which faces wider crackdown by the ruling regime, said Professor Adib-Moghaddam. ?

¡°What is needed to dwarf such efforts [to crack down on universities], is more international cooperation with Iranian universities and academics,¡± he said.

°Õ±á·¡¡¯²õ?51¹ú²úÊÓƵ 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Rankings uses the same 13 performance indicators as the World 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Rankings, but they are recalibrated to reflect the attributes of 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ¡¯s institutions.

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tiya.alexander@timeshighereducation.com