A total of 69 Indian universities with 424 listings have been featured in the QS World University Rankings by subject, indicating a 19.4% increase from the previous year’s 355 listings by 66 universities.
India stands as the second most represented country in Asia in terms of the number of ranked universities (69), following mainland China with 101 universities.
Out of the 12 institutes of eminence (IoE), eleven contributed 40% of the total entries from the country, totaling 180 entries. These institutes claimed 47 out of the top 100 Indian positions and secured 14 out of the 21 positions across 55 academic disciplines and five faculty areas in the 14th edition of the rankings.
The University of Delhi, with 30 entries, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay with 28 entries, and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur with 27 entries were the most prominently featured Indian universities in this edition of the rankings (excluding the five broad faculty areas).
According to Jessica Turner, CEO at QS, one of India’s significant challenges lies in providing high-quality tertiary education to meet the surging demand. The increase in the number of Indian programs featured across the 55 subject rankings and five broad faculty areas this year reflects a positive trend in this direction.
Jawaharlal Nehru University emerged as India’s highest-ranked university for development studies, securing the 20th position globally in this discipline. Following closely were the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad at the 22nd spot for business & management studies and the Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences at the 24th position globally in dentistry, achieving a perfect score of 100⁄100 in one of the QS indicators.
India has shown progress in various indicators, with a 20% improvement in citations per paper and a 16% growth in the international research network indicator, reflecting a strong research capability and diverse research partnerships.
The Indian School of Mines (ISM) University excelled in engineering-mineral & mining, securing the 44th position globally and standing out for its academic reputation, ranking eighth worldwide for this key indicator.
Additionally, six Indian universities ranked among the top 10 globally for employer reputation in specific subjects, as per feedback from 98,000 employers surveyed by QS.
The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research achieved the 64th position for pharmacy and pharmacology, leading Indian institutions in research impact. Indian School of Business stood out for its research quality in business & management studies, securing the 15th position for citations per paper within this discipline.
India’s research output has surged by 54% from 2017 to 2022, making it one of the world’s rapidly expanding research centers. Despite being the world’s fourth-largest producer of research in terms of volume, India ranks ninth globally for research impact, emphasizing the need to prioritize high-quality, impactful research dissemination within the academic community.
QS evaluated over 16,400 university programs across more than 1,500 universities in 95 countries and territories, covering 56 subjects and five broad faculty areas.