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

The Indian Institute of Science Bangalore’s (IISc) ranking slipped by 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, though its position slipped by seven ranks 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 ranked 83rd, compared to 71st last year, IIT Madras fell from 70th to 85th position.

IIT Kharagpur ranked 90th, compared to 77th last year, while IIT Kanpur fell from 77th to 97th. 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 became tougher this year for Indian higher education institutions.

Various factors are considered while allotting ranks, including academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per paper and research impact, faculty-to-student ratio, staff with PhDs, international research network, and proportion of international students, among others.

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 these rankings, which also include 34 new entrants. The University of Hong Kong retained the number one position in the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027.

In total, the top five positions were occupied by institutions in China and Hong Kong, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. According to QS World Rankings: Asia 2027, academic reputation carries a weightage of 30%.

This fell for more than 76% of institutions in India, while employer reputation, which carries a 20% weightage, declined for 83% of institutions. At the same time, the international student indicator dropped for 85% of institutions.

However, Indian universities fared well in research, as 27 universities are in Asia’s top 50 for Papers per Faculty. This includes five in the top 10, while 15 institutions share the first rank for Staff with PhD.