IISc Bengaluru tops Asia for research in QS Asia 2027 rankings; 325 Indian universities listed

India has again shown its strength in higher education and research. The QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027 were released on November 3, 2026, and 325 Indian universities have made the list. By this count, India is second in Asia.

Last year's rankings included 294 Indian institutions. This time, 34 new institutions have entered the list. Indian universities performed very well on research papers published and on faculty with PhDs.

On research, India is ahead of all of Asia on the number of research papers published per faculty member. In this category, 27 Indian universities are in Asia's top 50, and five Indian institutions are in the top 10.

Among these five, IISc Bengaluru ranks first in Asia in this category. IIT Madras is third, IIT Delhi seventh, IIT Roorkee eighth and IIT Ropar ninth. The performance shows that the capacity of Indian institutions to carry out research and work on new subjects is steadily growing.

On faculty with PhDs, according to QS, 15 Indian universities share the top position in Asia in this category. In addition, 47 Indian institutions are in the top 100 on this indicator.

When a university has capable and experienced teachers, the standard of teaching improves and research gets better. For this reason, India's performance in this category is being seen as a major achievement in higher education.

In the overall rankings, IIT Delhi is India's best-performing institution, placed 66th in Asia. It is followed by IISc Bengaluru at 79th, IIT Bombay at 83rd, IIT Madras at 85th, IIT Kharagpur at 90th and IIT Kanpur at 97th. India is ahead on several research measures.