Why MIT is 'MIT'

Biren Das biren@tezu.ernet.in

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the USA popularly known as MIT, is holding Rank-1 for the last 10 consecutive years in Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings till 2022. In Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings also, MIT is at Rank 3rd in 2011, at 7th in 2012, at 5th in 2013, at 5th in 2014, at 6th in 2015, at 5th during 2016 to 2018, at 4th in 2019, at 5th in 2020 and 2021 and at 6th in 2022 declared on 2nd September last. The Rankings for 2022 is expected in September 2021. If we consider THE WUR for the last 10 years, the 1st rank has been occupied by Harvard University for 2011, California Institute of Technology for the years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 and Oxford University from 2017 to 2022.

World University Rankings of all ranking agencies for 2022 have been announced.

Though there are a few more World University rankings, still THE & QS World University Rankings are widely accepted by all stakeholders throughout the World, say, government/ various regulatory authorities, funding agencies, collaborations, recruiters, parents and students. We must appreciate that these rankings reflect the level of quality of education in these HEIs.

While considering the World University Rankings by either THE or QS, we must admit that an institution being within the top 10 might carry significance compared to institutions beyond this group. Again, if we consider the list of 10 top-ranked HEIs in either of THE and QS, it will be evident that almost the same set of institutions are maintaining their rankings within the top 10 for years with one or two exceptions. If we consider THE rankings for the last 10 years, it is noted that Oxford University from the UK and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from the USA are leading these rankings for the decades, while MIT is always in the top 5 except three occasions. There is a high level of correlation between the ranking lists of QS and THE for any given year, at about 80% overall and about 75% at the top 100.

If we consider Indian HEIs in the context of these rankings, it may be observed that in THE rankings, none of these HEIs has been able to find a place within the top 200; while in QS Rankings, 03 HEIs are within the top 200 since 2017. However, if we go through the history of the higher education system, we will appreciate that there were seats of higher education in India during the fifteenth century at Nalanda & Takshashila where pupils from across the world studied their multi-disciplined life skills. Having such a rich legacy in multidisciplinary higher education, Indian higher education has expanded in quantity having about 1000 Universities and myriad colleges; but not been able to achieve quality which is the reflection in World University Rankings.

When we analyse these rankings, it is found that many Indian HEIs can be compared with some of the top-ranked institutions from the point of view of campus area, students enrollment, infrastructure, funding etc., but have failed to get a berth in the top 100 ranks. Maybe, we haven't been able to perform in the areas of matrices on which QS or THE ranks the institutions like Academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty & students, etc. If we take the example of MIT to compare with IITs or Central Universities in India, it will be evident that founded to accelerate the nation's industrial revolution, the MIT community is driven by the vision of making a better world through education, research and innovation with fun and quirks. It is inventive and artistic, obsessed with numbers welcoming talents without boundaries. The MIT faculty determines the institute's educational policy keeping in mind the need of the coming age. It has produced about 100 Nobel Laureates (96 in 2019) and 80 MacArthur Fellows. The Institute has a student's strength of 12,000 with about 1,100 teachings and 1,000 academic staff keeping the student-faculty ratio at about 5:1. This low student to teacher ratio promotes intensive teaching and research. For these teachers, cutting-edge research and education are inseparable; but play a vital role in shaping its vibrant campus community as advisors, coaches, mentors, committee members, extension activities and such other responsibilities to the institute, nation and the world. The same is the case for Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, CalTech or other such Universities who have shown their consistent performance to make their continuous presence in the top ranks of all the World University Rankings. An important point to be noted is that most of these high-ranked institutions are non-government players.

If we look into the World higher education scenario, it is evident that about 50% of the World's Top 100 Universities are located in the USA. These Universities have a special allure and has always been drawing talents from across the world. Why? It is felt that the American higher education system is most vibrant and allow for invaluable academic, professional and personal growth opening the window for infinite scope for career opportunities with the required skill. The small class size, highly accredited teachers and academic staff, advanced technology and research facilities and capabilities, good governance system with full autonomy, the academic flexibility have made US HEIs more attractive for international students. Most of the HEIs in the US are involved in groundbreaking research, of course benefitting from generous funding for both domestic and international students. The arts of teaching in the US HEIs are rooted in experimentation, risk-taking and imaginative problem-solving. HEIs like MIT, UCLA, Harvard etc., provide students engaging campus lives with all socio-cultural amenities to join or initial research projects for academic credit pay; these works get published, patented and contribute to ambitious start-up companies. Many of these researches help the country, even other countries in solving their socio-economic problems.

Contrary to all these, the Indian HE system is still rigid with high doses of 'don'ts' and conflicting and paradoxical regulations having 'a class within the class' of HEIs. The system is being criticized for flaws in autonomy and leadership crisis which add to amassed woes. Though there is no dearth of talents in the country, perhaps the HE system of our country fails to nurture those talents and as a result, some are doomed while some, who can afford exodus to the US, UK, Australia and other countries where quality education is in place.

Though the NEP 2020 has brought hope that some of the Indian HEIs will be able to improve themselves to the level of the top-ranked universities of the world, it depends a lot on the flexibility in academic regulations introduced, the autonomy given to the HEIs with 'light but tight' regulations, generous funding to the public HEIs allowing them to keep the student's fee at affordable and making the HE accessible to all those who deserve. The answer to the public question "Why IITs are not MIT' will then come with the assertion that our IITs are on a par with MIT. We must remember that NEP2020, though it has scope, is flexible, but the devil lies in its implementation as it is not a straight jacket that one size fits all; rather we have to make our HEIs fit for all taking the spirit of NEP 2020 to its best. Then only the basic objectives of NEP 2020 could be achieved giving the benefits to the nation.