IITs rated as world's third best

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been ranked the third best technology universities in the world for 2005, according to the prestigious Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).

The publication, which is highly respected and read in the world of academia, said: "Our peer review of the world's top technology universities shows that in 2004, the high praise for the Indian Institutes of Technology was no fluke.

"Up to third position in 2005 from fourth place last year, the IITs are a source of Indian national pride as well as innovation and wealth".

Among science universities, the IITs have been ranked 36th in the world. The THES table shows that the technologists among our peer review panel regard Imperial College London as the UK's hottest university, ahead of Cambridge University and fifth in the world.

The ranking is dominated by the US it appears 26 times in the top 101 institutions in the list.

"Our definition of technology covers the main engineering disciplines including information and communications technology.

"Viewed alongside the tables for science subjects, our rankings suggest it is possible for a university to be strong in science but not technology, and vice versa", THES said.