Japan, South Korea top Asia’s most innovative universities; IITs at the bottom

New Delhi: Only two Indian institutions - the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore – have found a place in the list of 75 most “innovative” Asian universities.

The IITs rank 72 on the Reuters Top 75: Asia’s Most Innovative Universities list and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore is ranked 73.

“Despite boasting the world’s second-largest population (more than 1.25 billion) and one of its largest economies, only two Indian universities appear in the top 75,” reported Reuters.

“The Indian Institutes of Technology is a network of 23 universities which centralize their patent administration, so it's not always possible to identify which constituent university was responsible for what research. As a result, Reuters ranked the entire system as opposed to individual universities. World-class campuses like IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay may have ranked much higher on the list if they weren’t grouped in with smaller and newer institutes like IIT Tirupati and IIT Palakkad.”

The list identifies the “educational institutions that are doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies and help drive the global economy”.

Out of the top 20 universities, 17 are based in Japan and South Korea.

There are 22 Chinese universities on Reuters’ ranking – more than any other country.

Topping the list as the most innovative university in Asia is KAIST, also known as Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology. Established in 1971 by the Korean government with funding from the United States, the university was modeled after engineering schools in the US, and its instruction stresses problem-solving skills and hands-on experience over textbook learning.

The second most innovative university in Asia is Japan’s University of Tokyo.

The highest ranked school outside of Northeast Asia is the National University of Singapore, ranked 11.

China’s highest ranked university is Beijing-based Tsinghua University (rank 13).

Some countries, like Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam, are missing from the list entirely.