University of the Year 2017

The history of higher education dates back when education was available in Gurukulas, Agrahas, Viharas and Madaras as, throughout the country, wherein the students were educated under the tutorship of a teacher in different areas of religion, philosophy and science. This is a testament that modern concept of University style education centers was established around 6 BC.

The country was home to both Takshashila - the first university in the world, and to the inventor of the digit 0 - Aryabhata. Albert Einstein once said: "We owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made". The great universities flourished in India when most of the western world was groping in the dark.

Currently the third largest in the world, Indian higher education is likely to surpass the US in the next five years and China in the next 15 years. Higher Education in India has recorded impressive growth since independence with University Grants Commission (UGC) designing programmes and implementing various schemes through academic. In the changing landscape, an entrance to private universities came as a game changer. Pursuing a degree in an Indian university confers the person with benefits such as-affordable education, learning in a culturally diverse environment and unique courses.

Although education system has been able to support service industry Research & Development (R &D) at Universities and industries, they have not kept much pace with developed countries which have created a huge divide within the society. There is a gap between the need for the employment terminals i.e. industry and the academic institutions. The reducing government employment opportunities and increasing economy-oriented employment, close links need to be fostered between vocational institutions and user industry and also technical and professional institutions and industry.

With many state universities in bad condition, the gap is being filled by several private universities. However, it is important to ensure that these universities have adequate faculty, research facilities, relevant curriculum and ample infrastructure among others. There are only handful of universities in the country which are genuinely research focused and properly engaged with mentoring and so on. We at Higher Education Review to ease the selection of best university have come up with a list which is prepared on the basis of quality and ranking. In our issue ‘University of the Year- 2017', we have identified few universities which are not only providing students a comprehensive education but also focusing on intensifying placement prospects.