QS World Rankings 2026

Current Context: The QS World University Rankings 2026, released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on June 19, 2025, ranks over 1,500 universities across 106 countries.

• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) secured the top spot for the 14th consecutive year.
• Other leading institutions include Imperial College London (#2), Stanford University (#3), University of Oxford (#4), and Harvard University (#5).
• The rankings evaluate universities based on eight indicators, including academic reputation (30%), citations per faculty (20%), and a new International Student Diversity metric (5%).
• Globally, the United States leads with 192 institutions, followed by the United Kingdom (90) and China (72), while Asia sees significant gains, with South Korea’s Yonsei University reaching 50th and Malaysia’s Sunway University climbing over 120 places.
• India emerges as the fourth most-represented country with 54 universities, a 390% increase since 2014, led by IIT Delhi (123rd), IIT Bombay (129th), and IIT Madras (180th).
• India excels in citations per faculty, with eight universities in the global top 100 for this metric, highlighting its growing academic influence.

Question:

Q.1 What is the rank of IIT Delhi in the QS World University Rankings 2026?
a) 129
b) 180
c) 123
d) 150

Answer: c) IIT Delhi is the highest-ranked Indian university in the 2026 QS list, at 123rd globally.