The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has retained the top position among Indian institutes in the latest round of Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, which has been boycotted by most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for the third consecutive year over transparency concerns.

While it is first among Indian institutions, overall, the IISc is placed in the 251-300 band. Globally, the University of Oxford has emerged as the best institute among 1,799 universities from 104 countries, according to a statement issued by THE.

The second position among Indian institutions has been taken by the Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences (351-400 overall), which made its debut in the rankings. The Himachal Pradesh-based private university is ranked 96th in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022 in the universities category.

Shoolini University, however, shares the spot among Indian institutes with JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, another private university which is based in Karnataka. Tamil Nadu’s Algappa University, a public institution, has come out third in India (401-500).

Last year, the second place in the Indian category had been bagged by IIT Ropar, which has in this year’s edition of THE slipped to the sixth position, and to the 501-600 band globally from last year’s 351-400.

Among the other IITs which took part in the rankings, IIT Indore is placed in the 601-800 band, followed by IIT Patna and IIT Gandhinagar in the 801-1000 band.