Indian universities are climbing up the global pecking order faster than their G20 peers, according to the latest World University Rankings (WUR) 2025 by global higher education specialist firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Although there are no Indian universities in the top 100 list, the rankings show that the 61% of the universities in the country have improved their rankings as compared to the previous year. Delhi University, for instance, has witnessed the biggest jump by climbing 79 notches to reach the 328th position this year.
Also, over the past decade, India has experienced the highest growth in university representation among all G20 nations, with a remarkable 318% increase from 11 universities in the 2015 edition of the QS World University Rankings to 46 in the 2025 edition,” the report said.
Within the Indian universities, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay ranked the highest at #118 followed by IIT Delhi at 150th position. In fact, four IITs have featured amongst the top 10 Indian universities. As per the rankings, IIT Bombay has shown improvement in both research quality and reputation parameters which led to its rise within the Indian cohort.
The rankings points out that with 46 ranked universities, India has the third-largest representation in Asia after Japan and China. Also, despite improving their academic and employer reputations, most Indian universities continue to lag behind in terms of internationalisation and global engagement.
“The growing prominence of Indian higher education is evident…the bold implementation of India’s National Education Policy (NEP) demonstrates the nation’s commitment to modernising its education system and addressing challenges and leveraging opportunities. Emphasising sustainability, global engagement, and employability will be vital in shaping India’s higher education landscape,” said Jessica Turner, CEO, QS.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has maintained the top slot for 13th year in a row. As per the rankings, the Imperial College of London has grabbed the second position globally by overtaking both Oxford and Cambridge to become the highest-ranked UK institution.
The 21st edition of the QS WUR has featured over 1,500 global academic institutions who were ranked on nine parameters, including academic reputation (30% weightage), citations per faculty (20%), employer reputation (15%), faculty-student ratio (10%) and others.