The Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM) Dhanbad, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, have emerged as top-ranking Indian institutions in the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published on Wednesday.
IIT-ISM Dhanbad secured 21st place in the ‘Engineering – Mineral and Mining' category, while IIM Ahmedabad also ranked 21 in two areas, Business and Management Studies and Marketing. Last year, IIT-ISM Dhanbad held the top spot among Indian institutions as well, achieving 20th place in Mineral and Mining Engineering.
IIT Kharagpur, now at the 22nd position, has made an impressive leap of 23 ranks from last year's 45 in the Mining and Mineral Engineering field, successfully entering the global top 25.
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5 IITs in world's top 100
In the ‘Engineering and Technology' category, five IITs are among the world's top 100, although they have seen a decline in rankings from the previous year. The leading IIT in this category, IIT Delhi, has slipped 10 ranks — from 26 last year to 36 this year. Likewise, IIT Kanpur has fallen from 72 to 86, and IIT Bombay from 28 to 42, both dropping 14 ranks.
Explaining the decline among the IITs in the Engineering and Technology category, a report in The Indian Express quoted QS as saying, “For IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay, the employer reputation score has dropped more significantly than the academic reputation indicator. This highlights the importance of ensuring that graduates have the right skills that employers are seeking. Both have seen their scores in the citation's indicator fall this year too.”
According to the rankings, IIT Bombay's employer reputation score decreased from 88.6 last year to 84.3 this year, while IIT Delhi's score went down from 87.2 to 83.5.
“Additionally, this year has seen heightened competition globally. Institutions such as Seoul National University, University College London, University of Texas at Austin, University of British Columbia, Institut Polytechnique de Paris rose in key subjects within the broad faculty area to enter the top 30,” QS added.
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India making ‘rapid advancement' in engineering
The global education analysts have noted that India has made “rapid advancements” in Engineering, especially in Computer Science, remarking that “the most significant concentration of improvement” can be observed among Indian institutions in Engineering.
India recorded a total of 44 entries in the Computer Science and Information Systems category this year, up from 42 last year. According to QS, the US, UK, Germany, and France all saw declines in Computer Science entries in 2026, while India's presence has grown.
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