IIT-D is top-ranked Indian institution in QS Rankings – The Times of India

New Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, was ranked 26th globally in the engineering & technology category in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025. It is an improvement from its ranking of 45 last year. IIT-D also emerged as the top-ranked Indian institution in this category.
Other Indian institutions among the top 100 in the section are IIT-Bombay at 28, IIT-Madras at 53, IIT-Kharagpur at 60, IIT-Kanpur at 72 and Indian Institute of Science at 84. This was the 15th edition of the World University Rankings by Subject, announced on Wednesday by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
IIT-D had an overall score of 82.5 out of 100, with 87.2 in employability, 82.1 in citations per paper, 85.5 in academic reputation, among other parameters. The ranking for engineering & technology is based on five parameters with a specific weightage: Academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (30%), citations (10%), H-index (10%) and international research network (10%).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the ranking for engineering & technology with an overall score of 96.2, followed by University of Oxford with 93.7 and Stanford University with 93.5.
“This year, IIT-D improved its score in each of these five parameters. Notably, there is a significant increase in the score in the employer reputation and international research network measures,” said Vivek Buwa, head of the ranking cell and dean of planning, IIT-D.
He added, “For the last several years, IIT Delhi has been working on strengthening its international collaborations,” confirmed Buwa. “For example, in the last seven years (2018-2024), which also corresponds to the period since IIT Delhi was selected as an Institute of Eminence by the Indian govt, IIT-D has undertaken 410 international collaborative research projects.”
Buwa added, “This includes 139 international collaborative projects. The tech institution also has joint degree programmes with the University of Queensland in Australia and with the National Chiao Tung University of Taiwan. These overseas collaborations have led to a significant increase in joint publications with international universities. For example, the number of publications with international collaborators increased to 1,214 in 2024 from 509 in 2018.”
In other categories, IIT-D secured the 146th position in natural sciences and the 75th position in social sciences & management. The institute was featured among the top 100 global institutions in 12 specific subjects across engineering & technology, natural sciences and social sciences & management. These include computer science & information systems (64), data science and AI (51-100), chemical engineering (93), civil engineering (51-100), electrical engineering (47), mechanical engineering (61), mineral & mining engineering (51-100), environmental sciences (94), materials science (98), mathematics (95), business & management studies (92), and statistics & operational research (51-100).
Subject-wise, nine Indian universities and institutions are among the global top 50 in the subject-wise rankings though some top institutions on the list, including three IITs, two IIMs and JNU, saw a drop in their positions. India has 12 Top 50 positions across the subject rankings and broad faculty areas. Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, led with a rank of 20 globally for engineering-mineral and mining, making it the country’s highest-performing subject area.