Editorial: Student cities and QS rankings

Four Indian cities figure in the international rankings of Best Student Cities, put together by the reputed London-based education consultancy firm QS Quacquarelli. It is not surprising that the four cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. The first three were colonial power centres, and where educational institutions sprang up to cater to the needs of the rulers. And, after Independence, successive governments tried to decentralise, but the metros continued to dominate.

In recent decades, Kolkata began to lose its sheen, but that’s another story. Bengaluru, however, emerged as a major educational hub in the wake of privatisation of education, with the city becoming a major technology centre and the country’s IT capital, and the Silicon Valley of India.

The QS ranking of student-friendly cities takes into account criteria such as student diversity and appeal on the one hand and affordability and employer activity on the other. All four Indian cities moved up a few notches, and Mumbai managed to break into the top 100 by earning the 98th place with an impressive Employer Activity and even affordability. Interestingly, Bengaluru climbed up 22 spots, and this needs to be studied further.

On the other side of the picture is the grim, lopsided development of the education system and undue concentration of premier institutions in a few large cities. It is a matter of grave concern that students from different states, especially from the northern, western and north-eastern states, are forced to shift to these cities in pursuit of quality education, which is widely believed to be not available in their home states. Therein lies the tale of the failure of successive governments to establish, nurture and grow high-quality educational institutions in their states. Increasingly, many Indian students look to Western countries for higher education and subsequently for career opportunities and growth. It is difficult to say with certainty when India will not only end brain drain but instead attract international talent to its educational, research and business institutions. Until that happens, India cannot claim to be an economic powerhouse, a political superpower and a Vishwaguru armed with soft power.

Even if one were to see the top-ranking institutions in the country, many of them are older institutions, many dating to the pre-Independence period and the first few decades of Independence.

The newer colleges, deemed universities, many in the private sector, may have emerged as major “brands”, but they have a long way to go to match some of the older institutions. Indeed, educational institutions cannot be built overnight, but secret educational institutions in India tend

to suffer from an inherent flaw of seeing everything through the prism of “commerce” and short-term cost-benefit analysis, which is not particularly suitable for building institutions that take years to grow, and some of their building blocks are intangible.

The other aspect which needs to be studied is the lack of vibrant university towns or educational townships with a buzzing academic atmosphere. Only a few such towns – Manipal in Karnataka and Pilani in Rajasthan, Vellore in Tamil Nadu – have emerged in the recent decades. Germany boasts of many university towns such as Aachen, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Munich. The importance of such centres cannot be stressed enough. They become incubators for innovation, research, and a fertile environment that enables the setting up of start-ups and new businesses. India needs to do more. Not just the government, but also the private sector.