The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is prepared and released by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University every year. It focuses mainly on a university’s achievements in scientific research and was the first global ranking of universities when it was first published in 2003.

According to the ARWU, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), until now said to be one of the best in the world, have lost their sheen. For the first time in nine years, not a single IIT figures in the ranking of the top 500 universities in the world. IIT Kharagpur has seen its ranking fall steadily over the past few years. The fall in ranking has finally led to it being dropped altogether from the 2011 list released last week. IIT, Kharagpur, has featured in every edition of ARWU ever since it started. IIT, Delhi, was the only other IIT that ever made it to the list, but only once, in 2003.

The exit of the IITs leaves just one Indian university on the long list—Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The bad news comes at a time when experts were already pointing at the lack of research at these premier institutions. Adding hurt to injury is a comment by Jairam Ramesh, himself an alumnus; he is on record for having stated that the standard at the IITs has dropped.

But the IIT fraternity doesn’t see its exclusion as something that would dent the image or perception of the premier institutes of engineering. “Every ranking has different parameters of judging universities, which may not be suitable for Indian institutions. The Academic Ranking of World Universities, I know, looks at the number of Nobel laureates produced by a university,” said Gautam Barua, director, IIT Guwahati.

B. K. Mathur, dean of planning and coordination at IIT Kharagpur, was not too forthcoming when asked to explain this downturn. He only informed, saying, “We are aware that our institute no longer figures on the (ranking) list. We are trying to explore why this has happened.” ARWU is prepared based on a number of parameters, which include the frequency of publication in top journals. The number of citations in articles appearing in these journals and the number of Nobel prizes and field medals won by staff and alumni are also taken into account, something that the American universities are pretty good at. Another important consideration is per capita performance with respect to the size of an institution.

According to leading researcher Goverdhan Mehta, a shift in rank, up or down a grading list, should not distract the IITs from focusing on the real problem plaguing them right now. “I am not a firm believer in such global rankings, but any hardcore researcher or academician knows that though IITs produce the best engineers, the research work done here is not of the same standard. That is the problem that one should focus on right now,” he said.

Eight out of the 10 best varsities in the world, as per the ranking, are from the United States with Harvard University, Stanford University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology occupying the first, second and third positions, respectively.