Following liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy in 1991 and especially in the new millennium, a large number of private liberal arts universities have captured the imagination of India’s fast-expanding middle class

A historic mistake of post-independence India’s national development effort was continuous neglect of liberal arts and humanities in higher education. With the Nehruvian economy development model according primacy to construction of large infrastructure projects, and production of core industry goods (coal, steel, fertiliser, petroleum etc), education of aspiring engineers and scientists was given high importance to the relative neglect of liberal arts and the humanities.

This infirmity of Indian higher education persists to this day. Only recently, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has directed that all institutions of higher education must gradually transform into multidisciplinary universities, and all students in higher education must compulsorily study liberal arts and science subjects in the first of four years in undergrad education.

Following liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy in 1991 and especially in the new millennium, a number of private liberal arts universities with globally benchmarked infrastructure, highly-qualified faculty and contemporary curriculums have been promoted through states-level legislation. Within the short time, these private liberal arts universities have captured the imagination of India’s fast-expanding middle class.

Although by standards of the handful of government show-piece universities, their tuition fees are high, with India’s banks having belatedly introduced long-term education loans, the demand for admission into the country’s new genre private liberal arts HEIs has soared with the application-admission ratio averaging 10:1 for top-ranked universities which are going great guns and increasingly competing with American Ivy league universities — traditionally favoured by India’s elite and upper middle class students.

And since 2022 when the composite league table of private universities was sub-divided according to subject specialisation, the as yet small league table of sufficiently well-known — a large number of them are unaware of the virtues of advertising and brand building — the EW league table of private liberal arts and humanities universities has been dominated by the Sonipat (Haryana)-based O.P. Jindal Global University (estb.2009), especially since its highly competitive neighbour Ashoka University, Sonipat (estb.2014) has been moved to the multi-disciplinary category where it has been ranked a creditable #3 for the past three years (see p.48).

In this year’s EWIHER 2025-26 there’s been minimal change in the seating order of the cosy top table of private liberal arts and humanities varsities. As last year, JGU is followed by the low-profile Pune-based FLAME University. The less visible Ahmedabad-based Anant National University has been promoted to the Top 3 by the 2025-26 sample respondents, trading places with MIT Art, Design & Technology University, Pune. JGU is awarded highest score under nine of the 10 parameters ideated by your editors as hallmarks of higher education excellence.

“I’m proud that JGU is ranked India’s premier private liberal arts university for the fourth year consecutively. The parameter scores accurately reflect our institution-building priorities. The top-rank awarded to us by your sample responders is valuable endorsement that we are moving ahead in the right direction,” says Dr. (Prof.) C. Raj Kumar, the polymath (Madras, Delhi, Oxford and Harvard alum) founding Vice Chancellor of JGU.

While he modestly dismisses the high score awarded to JGU for leadership, Raj Kumar is especially pleased with the top score of this fully residential varsity with 10,000 students, under the competence of faculty parameter.

“Our 1,100-strong faculty drawn from 51 countries has displayed extraordinary versatility in developing our innovative pedagogy. In the latest 2025 rankings of THE, London, JGU is awarded #1 rank globally for online education quality. This is an exceptional achievement,” says Raj Kumar, who adds that this year JGU has begun a “measured entry” into STEM education and will transform into a full-fledged multidisciplinary university within two years.

Also read: JGU achieves historic milestone in QS Subject Rankings 2025