Top Universities in India 2019

How did the results change in the 2020 index? Click here to find out.

The first ever edition of the QS India University Rankings, released today, sees 75 Indian universities rank among the best in the nation, based on a methodology which assesses each institution’s academic and employer reputations, as well as research impact, percentage of international students and faculty members and other factors. Amazingly, 11 top universities in India earned a perfect score for the Staff with PhD indicator, demonstrating their success in recruiting highly qualified academic staff.

Read on to discover the 10 highest-ranked Indian universities in the new ranking, and how they earned their top scores.

10. Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG)

Ranked 10^th in the QS India University Rankings, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) is one of India’s 23 Institutes of Technology (IITs) and was the sixth one to be founded (in 1994). As well as earning a perfect score for the Staff with PhD indicator, IIT Guwahati earned high scores for the papers per faculty and citations per faculty member indicators, reflecting the institute’s research productivity and impact. IIT Guwahati has 10 research centers as also houses one of the fastest and most powerful supercomputers in the country.

9. Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR)

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) is placed ninth in the India ranking and is the oldest technical institution in Asia, having been established as the College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee in 1847. However, it only gained IIT status as recently as 2001, becoming the seventh IIT to be declared. As well as gaining strong scores in the indicators measuring research output and impact, IIT Roorkee boasts the highest score in the top 10 for the international students indicator.

8. University of Delhi

One of only two non-IIT institutions to make the top 10 in the QS India University Rankings, the University of Delhi was established in 1922 and is now the largest university in the country, hosting over 132,000 regular students. It has two main campuses in the north and south of Delhi, with a total of 77 affiliated colleges and 16 faculties. Delhi is scored within the top five in the country for both the employer and academic reputation indicators.

7. University of Hyderabad

Ranked seventh in India in 2019, the University of Hyderabad is the highest-ranked non-IIT university this year, and is quite young in comparison to the other top universities in India covered so far in this list, having been established in 1974. It now has around 5,000 students enrolled in almost 150 programs (all of which are taught in English), with an increasing number of foreign students joining the university thanks to its comprehensive Study in India Program.

6. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK)

Heading to the north of the country for the next in our look at the top universities in India, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) is the next IIT to gain a spot in the top 10, claiming sixth place. As well as achieving a perfect score for the rankings category measuring the number of staff with a PhD, IIT Kanpur is ranked fourth for the papers per faculty indicator and fifth for the academic reputation indicator. Founded in 1959, IIT Kanpur now has a sprawling residential campus with around 6,500 students enrolled, most of whom live on campus.

5. Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITKGP)

Located in north-east India, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) is ranked fifth in the QS India University Rankings, and earns the highest score in the top 10 for the International Faculty indicator, showing that students can expect to be taught by a diverse range of academic staff. Also ranked joint 295^th in the latest QS World University Rankings®, IIT Kharagpur was founded in 1951 as the country’s first IIT, having been established to train future scientists and engineers after India gained independence in 1947.

4. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD)

Ranked fourth in India and joint 172^nd in the world, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) actually achieves the second-highest scores in the India ranking for both the academic reputation and employer reputation indicators. Founded in 1961, IIT Delhi was recently granted the status of Institute of Eminence (IoE), giving the institute greater autonomy on course structures, tuition fees and academic collaborations as well as allowing 30 percent of admitted students to be international students.

3. Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM)

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is ranked third in India and joint 264^th in the world this year*. Set on a self-contained residential campus adjoining the Guindy National Park in the city of Chennai, IIT Madras has around 8,000 students enrolled in 16 academic departments. Students benefit from facilities such as the IIT Madras Research Park, the first of its kind to be established in India, which functions to both propel successful innovation in existing companies and provide a nurturing ecosystem to bourgeoning startups.#

2. Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is ranked second in India in 2019, receiving perfect scores in both the Staff with PhD and Papers per Faculty indicators. IISc is located in the city of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), which is considered the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ for its role as India’s leading information technology exporter. The campus is just a short shuttle bus ride away from research institutes such as Raman Research Institute and the Indian Space Research Organisation, and there’s also a new campus in Challakere.

1. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB)

Concluding our look at the top universities in India in 2019, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) claims first place, earning the highest scores in India for both the academic and employer reputation indicators. IIT Bombay was established in 1958 as the second IIT in the country, and has become internationally recognized as a world leader for engineering education and research, with many of its graduates distinguishing themselves through their contributions and accomplishments in the fields of industry, academics, research, business, government and more.

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*IIT Madras is ranked higher than IIT Delhi in the QS India University Rankings (despite being ranked lower in the QS World University Rankings®) due to the differing methodologies used to compile the rankings. Find out more here.