JGU’s Dr. Raj Kumar (right): #1 three consecutive years

New-genre liberal arts universities created great public excitement and were ranked within the national Top 20 of the composite private universities league table in the annual EW India Higher Education Rankings in 2019. After sub-division of the broad category of private HEIs according to subject specialisation in 2022, they have risen higher.

And dominating the exclusive league table of liberal arts and humanities universities since 2022, is the O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), Sonipat. This year’s 2,100 knowledgeable EW sample respondents polled by AZ Research Partners Pvt. Ltd have again voted JGU as India’s #1 liberal arts and humanities university.

“We are delighted and honoured to be ranked India’s #1 liberal arts and humanities university by EducationWorld for the third consecutive year. This is a testament of JGU’s success in providing globally benchmarked interdisciplinary arts education to students. This achievement is also evidence of the commitment of our faculty and staff who often go beyond the call of duty to develop intellectually mature students with critical thinking skills,” says Prof. C. Raj Kumar, the polymath Oxford and Harvard-educated founding vice chancellor of JGU.

Raj Kumar is especially pleased with the top score awarded to JGU under the parameters of faculty competence, research, curriculum and pedagogy and internationalism. “I attribute our success to the visionary leadership of the deans and faculty members of JGU including Prof. Kathleen Modrowski, Dean of the Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities. Also to our well-designed interdisciplinary academic curricula, research output, and state-of-the-art infrastructure,” he adds. Currently, JGU’s 12 schools have 12,000 students from 70 countries mentored by 1,100 faculty including 129 international faculty from 50 countries, on their muster rolls.

The eight-strong league table of India’s most admired private liberal arts and humanities universities is set out below.

Parameters of excellence: India’s Top 10 Private Universities

To compile the EW India Private University Rankings 2024-25, AZ Research field researchers interviewed 2,100 higher education faculty, students and industry managers countrywide, asking them to rate institutions on ten parameters, viz, competence of faculty, faculty welfare and development, research and innovation, curriculum and pedagogy, industry interface, placements record, infrastructure and facilities, internationalism, leadership/governance quality and range/diversity of programmes offered. Further, the informed interviewees were asked to assign weightage to each parameter. The scores awarded by the respondents were totaled to rank India’s Top 10 private universities under each parameter of higher education excellence.

The ‘research and innovation’ parameter was assigned highest weightage (300) indicating that respondents believe that the ability of faculty to engage in meaningful research and development including publication of papers in reputed international journals, is the most important criterion for assessing the educational capabilities of universities. Parameter rankings which highlight the prime strengths of highly ranked institutions are useful because they enable students to select institutions whose priorities dovetail with their own. The national ranking of Top 10 private universities under all ten parameters, are set out below.

Also read: India’s top-ranked private multidisciplinary universities 2024-25