London, 10 June 2020: Three universities from India grabs the World’s Top 200 as QS Quacquarelli Symonds released QS World University Rankings 2021 Reports today globally. IIT Bombay, IISc Bangalore and IIT Delhi are named among the global top-200.

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) retains its status as India’s top university. It ranks 172nd globally and performs particularly well in QS’s measure of the extent to which institutions are nurturing employable graduates, Employer Reputation – for which it ranks 93rd globally. It also improves its performance in QS’s measure of research impact.

IIT Bombay is joined in the top 200 by Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc Bangalore), which places 185th. In doing so, it overtakes Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), which now ranks 193rd.

In total, 21 Indian higher education institutions place among the world’s top 1000. Of those 21 universities, 14 have fallen in rank over the past twelve months, while four have improved their position.

Meanwhile at the global levels,  the top three institutions remain American: MIT is followed by Stanford University (2nd) and Harvard University (3rd).

QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education analysts and compilers of the QS World University Rankings portfolio, have today released their annual list of the world’s top universities. This year’s instalment sees three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) named among the global top-200.

As a group, Indian higher education performs most strongly in QS’s measure of research quality, though its universities are failing to increase their academic standing, teaching capacity, and levels of internationalization at the same rate as competitors across the world.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) secures  275 place globally while Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITKGP) finds 314^th  spot.  Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) grabs 350^th spot while Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) secures 383th place. Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) finds 470^th spot at the Global Ranking Table.

Ben Sowter, Director of Research at QS, said: “It is crucial for those viewing the QS World University Rankings – whether parents, students, academia, or policymakers – to understand that our rankings are both a relative indicator and a moving target. Put otherwise, this means that a university’s performance is judged relative to its competitors, and that improvements in performance can see an institution drop if other competitors are improving at a faster rate.”

“Though India’s universities have dropped as a group this year, this is frequently because of other universities across the world making increasingly-intense efforts to enhance their educational offerings. To regain lost ground, Indian higher education must find ways of increasing teaching capacity, and of attracting more talented students and faculty across the world to study in India. There is plenty of potential, and there are pockets of excellence, within the Indian system.”

According to 102,000 academics surveyed by QS, India’s best university is IIT Bombay, which receives the world’s 156th-best score for the Academic Reputation indicator.

India’s best research university is IISc Bangalore, which receives a perfect score of 100/100 for QS’s Citations per Faculty indicator.

The QS World University Rankings, produced by global higher education consultancy QS Quacquarelli Symonds, rank the world’s top 1000 universities. They are the world’s most-consulted and most-covered source of comparative information about university performance, with their flagship website, www.TopUniversities.com, receiving over 149 million views in 2019.

Top Universities in India as per QS WUR 2021

Source: QS WUR 2021