Building World-Class Universities in Developing Systems: The Success Case of the Indian Institutes of Technology

Abstract

With a global shift towards knowledge-based economy universities are required to produce knowledge and cutting-edge technologies to support their respective country’s economy. In response, many countries around the world seek to build their own world-class universities. Altbach (2010, p.1) argues that world-class universities ‘demonstrate world class thinking and policy development in the sense that they employ state of the art solutions to pressing challenges of the twenty first century’. However, world-class universities are found only in a few wealthy Western countries. For instance, if one takes a quick glance at Global University Rankings (GUR), nearly every top university is situated in a high-income country. There are exceptions, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), which are known to produce the world’s most creative engineers. The GUR of IIT steadily rose over the past few years, drawing much attention from the industry for its unprecedented success.