India claims 5th spot globally with 52 universities in QS World Rankings 2026

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 18, 2026 06:17 PM IST

QS World University Rankings 2027: Which are the best institutes this year? (AI Image)

The latest QS World University Rankings features more than 1,500 institutions across 106 countries. The global top spot remains with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while Stanford University climbed to joint second place alongside Imperial College London.

The rankings continue to be dominated by institutions from the United States and the United Kingdom, but with several Asian universities also improving their positions.

Among Indian institutions, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi emerged as the country’s highest-ranked university at 118th globally. It was followed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), reinforced the claim of continued dominance of the IITs and leading public institutions in the global rankings. However, QS also noted in its statement that India’s growth in global higher education is not simply an IIT story.

QS World University Rankings 2027: Complete list of top 50

Rank

University

Country

1

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

United States

2

Stanford University

United States

2

Imperial College London

United Kingdom

4

University of Oxford

United Kingdom

5

Harvard University

United States

6

University of Cambridge

United Kingdom

7

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

United States

8

UCL

United Kingdom

8

ETH Zurich

Switzerland

10

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Singapore

11

The University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong SAR

12

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Singapore

13

Peking University

China

14

Tsinghua University

China

15

University of Pennsylvania

United States

16

Yale University

United States

16

Cornell University

United States

18

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong SAR

19

UNSW Sydney

Australia

20

Johns Hopkins University

United States

20

University of California, Berkeley

United States

22

EPFL – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Switzerland

22

The University of Melbourne

Australia

24

University of Chicago

United States

25

Technical University of Munich

Germany

26

Fudan University

China

27

Princeton University

United States

28

The University of Sydney

Australia

29

Australian National University

Australia

30

McGill University

Canada

31

Monash University

Australia

32

University of Toronto

Canada

33

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Hong Kong SAR

34

Université PSL

France

35

The University of Edinburgh

United Kingdom

36

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

China

37

King’s College London

United Kingdom

38

Seoul National University

South Korea

39

The University of Tokyo

Japan

=40

The University of Manchester

United Kingdom

=40

The University of Queensland

Australia

42

Yonsei University

South Korea

=43

Columbia University

United States

=43

Institut Polytechnique de Paris

France

=45

Northwestern University

United States

45

University of British Columbia

Canada

47

Zhejiang University

China

48

Delft University of Technology

Netherlands

49

University of California, Los Angeles

United States

50

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong SAR

India context: Growing presence in global rankings

India’s presence in the QS World University Rankings 2027 shows an overall change in its higher education landscape. With 52 ranked institutions, India is now the world’s fifth most represented higher education system, behind only the United States, the United Kingdom, Mainland China and Germany.

Country

Ranked

New

Improved

Stable

Declined

USA

184

3

13%

21%

66%

UK

93

4

35%

22%

43%

Mainland China

85

13

72%

14%

14%

Germany

60

11

16%

6%

78%

India

52

2

52%

18%

30%

The country’s representation has grown from just 14 institutions in the 2017 edition to 52 in 2027, marking a 271 per cent increase over the decade. According to QS, this is the fastest proportional growth among G20 nations. More than half (52 per cent) of previously ranked Indian universities improved their positions this year, while 18 institutions achieved their highest-ever rankings.

IIT Delhi retained its position as India’s highest-ranked university, moving up to 118th globally and matching the best rank ever achieved by an Indian institution. India also demonstrated growing strength in research and employability metrics. Eleven Indian universities feature among the world’s top 100 for Citations per Faculty, while six rank among the global top 100 for Employer Reputation.

The rankings also highlight the contrast between India and several established higher education systems. While 67 per cent of ranked US institutions and 78 per cent of German institutions recorded declines this year, India posted one of the strongest improvement rates among major systems. Twenty-six Indian universities improved their rankings, nine remained stable, 15 declined and two entered the rankings for the first time.

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QS noted that India’s large youth population, expanding higher education participation and growing research output are helping drive its rise. The country now has the world’s third-largest research output base.