QS Asia Rankings 2027: IISc Bangalore drops 15 places to 79th

A view of the Indian Institute of Science campus in Bengaluru. | Photo credit: File photo

Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc) dropped 15 places from 64th to 79th in the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027. Meanwhile, IIT Delhi continued to be the highest-ranked Indian university, although its position dropped seven places from 59th last year to 66th this year.

Apart from these two institutions, other IITs including IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur also slipped. While IIT Bombay was ranked 83rd against last year’s 71st position, IIT Madras slipped from 70th to 85th position. IIT Kharagpur was ranked 90th compared to 77th last year, while IIT Kanpur dropped from 77th to 97th.

The QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027 was released on Tuesday and ranked 1,722 universities and institutions. With 195 new entrants to the list across 26 countries and territories, the competition for Indian higher education institutions has become tougher this year.

Various factors are taken into account in awarding the ranks, including academic reputation, employer reputation, article citations and research impact, faculty-to-student ratio, doctoral staff, international research network, and proportion of international students.

According to the QS rankings, India has the second highest number of universities in the rankings after China. A total of 325 Indian institutions are part of this ranking, which also includes 34 new entrants.

The University of Hong Kong has retained its top spot in the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027. Overall, institutions in China and Hong Kong took the top five spots, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Reasons for the decline

According to QS World Rankings: Asia 2027, academic reputation has a weight of 30%. This has declined in over 76% of institutions in India, while employer reputation, which carries 20% weightage, has declined in 83% of institutions. At the same time, the international student rate fell at 85% of institutions.

However, Indian universities have done well in research, with 27 universities in Asia’s top 50 in terms of jobs per faculty. This includes five in the top 10, while 15 institutions share the top spot for employees with PhDs.

Published – 03 Nov 2026 23:40 IST