The statistic above is based on 1977-78 data from UGC, Delhi: “There are about 180,000 academics in India spread through some 3,000 colleges, 105 universities, and a number of specialized institutions for technology, engineering, management, and other fields. Responsible for the education of 2,500,000 students, they constitute the third largest academic community in the world.”

In other words, given our population, it is surprising we are not the 2nd largest in the world. A more interesting use of the statistic would be to see how we do in the rankings with respect to teacher:student ratio or the number of academics per million population, etc. Any indicator adjusting for population.

The article makes no claims about Indian academics outside of India.

“Indian academics constitute the third largest academic community in the world. As university graduates in a country in which 70 percent of the population is illiterate, and as heirs to one of the most ancient traditions of learning, they are a highly privileged elite. As guardians of the intellectual and political formation of youth in one of the world’s largest democracies and developing nations they hold a unique position of influence and power in the Third World.”

No indian college is ranked in the top 100 of the international rankings.

true but, IIT ranks among the top tech colleges and anecdotally, ranks right up there with MIT when it comes to recruiting for silicon valley, tech vc, and quant trading on wall street.

“We are not models…….we are losers” that is what leftists want to hear. Leftists are wondering why Asian americans are not climbing on the victims of white America gravy train.

Troll alert.

yawn

The Indian elites always valued education but they thought that the peasants/untouchables were unworthy and excluded them. I am not sure how this self-deluded but in any case I invite you to f*ck off.

Who are these “indian elites”? The indian elite that historically monopolized education was the brahmin caste and the education it valued involved their priestly profession, not the secular, scientific education that is being discussed here. Of course it is seriously delusional of you to claim that indians are over-represented in international academia. The indian group (caste) that you are extolling here is over-represented in indian academia but is that something to be proud of considering how shabby indian education is? No indian college is ranked in the top 100 of the international rankings. Secondly, these educated indian “elite” have proved by their accomplishments that they rank among the most corrupt and incompetent college graduates in the entire world.

This isn’t hubris on my part, Indian culture (which holds education as sacred and many to be spiritually unclean) explains both why you have some groups that are overrepresented in global academia

This is both hubris and self-delusion. A culture that holds education in high esteem wouldnt have the world’s largest concentration of illiterates even after 60 years of “independence” from its colonial masters. Secondly, where the heck did you get the idea that indians are over-represented in global academia?