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IIT Bombay’s ranking fell from 118th to 129th in 2026, and further to 134th this year. IISc Bengaluru experienced a slight fall, moving down two places from 219th to 221st.
MIT has topped the QS World University Rankings 2027. (File/Representative)
The QS World University Rankings continue to highlight that only a limited number of Indian institutions manage to break into the global top 200. This reflects ongoing structural issues within the country’s higher education system. Although institutes such as IIT Delhi and IIT Madras have shown improvement and have maintained their ranking in top 150 in the QS rankings, questions remain about the overall performance and the way global rankings are calculated.
This year, IIT Bombay saw a notable drop, slipping 11 places from 118th to 129th in the 2026 rankings. This year, it has been placed at the 134th position, marking a further decline of five positions from last year. This shows a downward trend for the institute, which was once the highest-ranked Indian institution, indicating increasing global competition.
Similarly, IISc Bengaluru experienced a slight fall, moving down two places from 219th to 221st. In 2025, it held the 211th rank. While the decline is not as sharp as IIT Bombay’s, it still highlights the difficulty even top research institutes face in maintaining their positions.
Other Indian institutions in the top 10 include IIT Kharagpur (205), IIT Kanpur (221), University of Delhi (322), IIT Roorkee (335), and IIT Guwahati (349). Among these, IISc and IIT Guwahati have also slipped compared to last year.
Why Indian Institutions Lag Behind In Global Lists
One major concern is the ranking methodology itself. The rankings are heavily dependent on global visibility, an area where Indian institutions need to improve.
Internationalisation is another weak point. Hiring foreign faculty remains difficult due to policy constraints, as IIT jobs are government positions. At the same time, attracting international undergraduate students is challenging because of the highly competitive JEE Advanced exam.
Metrics like citations per faculty also disadvantage growing institutions, as adding new faculty can lower the score. Additionally, the student-teacher ratio has been affected after the implementation of the EWS quota, as student intake has increased faster than faculty recruitment.
Beyond these issues, challenges such as limited research funding, weaker global collaborations, and infrastructure gaps continue to impact rankings. Experts believe that addressing both systemic problems and limitations in ranking criteria will be crucial for improving India’s global standing.
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