The performance of the University of Madras in its first-ever participation in QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Ranking has pointed to the need for it to focus on several areas, Vice-Chancellor S. Gowri has said.
The university is ranked 547 th among the world universities. Its work on research in science has pushed up the rank, he said.
It has performed among the top 38% and the citation impact of its research papers is 48. The citation of the research papers globally is the strongest indicator for the university, the ranking organisation has said. The citation per faculty is 94.2/100.
The university is considered a small institution, but the “research intensity is very high”, QS officials have said. The university has 16.4 million recorded publications and 117.8 million citations.
“Placement in the university is lower, compared with global institutions. The perception of the university needs to improve. We need to improve the student-staff ratio, citation, placement and perception. We have to introduce new subjects. These are the areas that we need to focus on to improve our ranking,” the Vice-Chancellor said.
The performance motivated the university to apply for Shanghai Ranking, whose parameters would be tougher, he said.
The University of Madras recently signed an agreement with the University of Melbourne for a joint degree in physics. The university is proposing such programmes in English and psychology, too.
“Madras University was once a multidisciplinary university. We have faculty in western music and architecture. According to the UGC, architecture is not engineering but science. We could revive these faculties,” he said.
This year, the university has granted permission for starting undergraduate courses in artificial intelligence and data science; computer science with artificial intelligence; and computer science with data science. There has been a request for management studies and data science too.
“The aim is to be ranked globally within the top 500. Our students will be able to pursue higher studies at overseas universities and will have better placement opportunities globally,” Mr. Gowri said.
It has been a good year for the university as it has received 132 applications from students abroad. Last year, only seven students had been admitted. This year, 25 have been admitted so far, said Rita John, who heads the committee that oversees the International Centre for the University of Madras.
To make the university attractive, there is a proposal to offer a spoken Tamil course for foreign students.
