London, 24th June: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) is crowned as the Best Youngest University in India as per the 2021 edition of the QS Top 50 Under 50 Rankings, released today by global higher education analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds.

Four Indian universities feature in the Next 100 under 50 table, one more than last year, thanks to the debut of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad in the 101-150 band.

IIT Guwahati stands at 61-70 Rank Band in the 2021 QS Next 100 under 50. IIT Hyderabad, University of Hyderabad and O. P. Jindal Global University secure the 101-150 Rank Band in the Ranking Table.

At the global levels, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) retain its status as the world’s leading young institution.

Asian universities have taken four of the top five positions in an annual list of the world’s best universities under fifty years of age.

NTU is closely followed by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, South Korea’s KAIST, and City University of Hong Kong. All of the top four institutions have also reached the global top-50 in the overall QS World University Rankings despite their relatively recent formation.

Beyond the top-ten, the strengths of other higher education sectors in the Asia-Pacific region are also evidenced by this ranking. Australia, with nine featured universities among the fifty, enjoys higher levels of representation than any other location.

Europe’s top young university is Université PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres), which has immediately established itself as one of the world’s top 100 universities in the short time since it gained collegiate university status by decree in 2019. Its  compatriot, Sorbonne University, places 8th, behind The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (6th) and South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology (7th).

The top ten is completed by Finland’s Aalto University and Universiti Putra Malaysia, the latter of whom is a debutant among the top ten, and which epitomises the recent rise of Malaysia’s higher education sector.

The average age of the top ten universities is 25.4 years, with three – Université PSL, Sorbonne University, and Aalto University – having been formed by foundation or merger within the last decade.

Ben Sowter, Director of Research at QS, said: “Behind QS’s decision to publish a list of the world’s top 150 young universities are two recognitions. The first is that reputations, resources, and world-class outcomes are typically built over time, and, in the higher education sector, the period over which some institutions have been able to do so has been one of centuries. We are therefore keen to illuminate the outstanding achievements made by universities that have not enjoyed the same historical advantages as their competitors.”