PU slips in world university rankings

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, has slipped by 38 positions in the US News Best Global University Rankings-2019 and is placed at 551st position. In 2018 edition, it was at 513th place. However, at national-level, PU is at number 3.

In the 2018 edition of the rankings, PU was at number 2 in the country and in 2017 edition, it was the top institution.

In the 2019 edition, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, topped the country with 46.5 marks, followed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, with 46.1 marks and PU with 44.5 marks.

Methodology

There were 13 indicators for calculating the rank. Global research reputation and regional research reputation have 12.5% marks each. Publication has 10% marks, while books and conferences have 2.5% each.

The normalised citation impact has 10% marks, total citations have 7.5 % contribution, number of publications that are among the 10% most cited has 12.5% marks and the percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited has 10% contribution.

The international collaboration, percentage of total publications with international collaboration, number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field and percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers have 5% marks each.

“PU stands heads and shoulders above other institutions when it comes to research achievements. This particular ranking which gives value to research and underplays the entirely subjective views about a university, results in PU getting a higher rank,” said Prof Rajivlochan, Director, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC).

Physics dept best in country

Despite a fall in overall rankings, physics department of PU retained its top slot in the country in the 2019 edition of rankings.

In the subject category of physics, PU has scored 62.8 marks, followed by IIT-Bombay with 58.1 marks and IISc-Bengaluru with 51.8 marks. The University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, with 50.7 marks and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, with 50.2 marks have come at the 4th and 5th places, respectively. Prof Rajeev Puri, Officiating Chairperson, Department of Physics, PU, expressed gratitude towards students, researchers and faculty.