The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) of the United States has once again secured the top spot in the QS World University Rankings 2026. The list, featuring over 1,500 top universities from more than 100 countries, also includes 54 Indian institutions.
Overall, London-based Imperial College has secured the second position, while US-based Stanford University is the third-best university globally. These universities scored more than 98 points to lead the chart.
Among the world's best universities, three Indian institutions featured among the top 150. IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi secured 123rd and 129th positions, respectively, while IIT Madras ranked 180.
📌 With 54 Indian universities featured this year — including 8 new entrants, the highest by any country — India has become the 4th most represented nation globally, after the US, UK, and China.
June 19, 2025
📊 Notable highlights:
48% of India's ranked universities improved their positions… pic.twitter.com/G4wC01vPAOIn contrast, the best-performing Indian university, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), secured an overall score of 65.5 on aspects like employability, sustainability, learning environment and diversity, among others.
Nearly 500 universities have improved their rankings this year. These universities have shown significant improvement, reflecting a positive trend for the global higher education system, the report, which was published on Thursday, noted. "Of these, the biggest climber is Sunway University in Malaysia, which has risen over 120 places," it said.
Among the top Indian educational institutions, IIT Delhi has emerged as the best university with an overall global ranking of 123. The university performed very well on aspects such as employability, research and sustainability. However, the report flagged that aspects like faculty-student ratio, diversity and global engagement are some of the areas that can be improved.
IIT Delhi was followed by IIT Bombay, another premier engineering institute in India. With 129 rank and an overall score of 64.8, IIT Bombay did well on factors like research and employability. However, global engagement and learning experience could be improved.
Chennai-based IIT Madras secured the 180th rank to emerge as the third-best university in India. Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science is the fifth best university, while IIT Kanpur, University of Delhi, and Anna University are other top-ranking universities.
Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University secured an overall global rank of 555 on the list this year. While JNU's sustainability score was decent at 59.3, it needed improvement in areas such as employability, research, faculty-student ratio and international student ratio, among other things.
BITS Pilani and Kolkata-based Jadavpur University are among other Indian universities in the list.
Top 10 Indian Universities In QS University Rankings 2026
To see the full list, click here.
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