India’s tally in the QS rankings has risen to 35 this year from 29 in 2021, President Ram Nath Kovind said Tuesday. According to the rankings, the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has scored 100 on the research parameter and joined the league of elite global institutions, he added.

The 2023 edition of the QS or Quacquarelli Symonds world university rankings will be released Thursday.

Speaking at the inauguration of the two-day Visitor’s Conference of vice-chancellors of central universities and directors of institutions of national importance, Kovind said improving the quality of institutions of higher learning is of vital importance in order to achieve the larger goals in the education sector.

“We should be setting benchmarks for the best in the world. In the top 300, there are six institutions (from India) this year as against four last year (in QS rankings),” Kovind said.

“I am especially happy to note that the Indian Institute of Science has got a full score of 100 on the research parameter and shares this distinction with eight highly reputed institutions of the world, including Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and Caltech,” he added.

QS Ltd CEO and MD, Nunzio Quacquarelli, was present at the launch of the conference, which was also attended by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and UGC chairperson Prof M Jagadesh Kumar.

Prof Kumar made a presentation on the phase-wise roll out of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, including the decision to encourage Indian and foreign universities to tie up for twinning, dual-degree and joint degree programmes from the 2023-24 academic session.

The UGC chairperson said that the commission has reached out to 600 foreign universities and 63 foreign envoys posted in India to achieve greater collaboration in the higher education sector.

He also said that the government was working on a plan to launch a “One Nation One Subscription” scheme for universities to provide students access to high quality journals.