Only 6 Indian universities in top 400 of global rankings; perform better in engineering and management

The list is awash with IITs and IIMs, and features only one private Indian institution.

NEW DELHI: Six Indian universities turned up in the top 400 in the well-regarded QS World Universities Rankings for 2018. And predictably, five of these six are IITs. The only non-IIT Indian institution in the top 400 is the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.

IIT-Delhi was the top ranked Indian varsity in the ranking, clocking in at 172. This is an improvement over the ranking of 185 last year. IIT-Bombay (179), IISc (190), IIT-Madras (264), IIT-Kanpur (293) and IIT-Kharagpur (308) were the others on the list.

IIT-Bombay marked the sharpest improvement in the ranking for an Indian university, and rose 40 spots this year. IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Kharagpur made small gains.

Just as sharp as IIT-Bombay's rise was IISc's 38-spot slide down the chart. It had started on the rankings two years ago at 147. IIT-Madras too snapped its two-year rising streak, falling 15 places in 2018. It had risen from 322 in 215 to 249 last year.

The ranking also cemented Delhi's place as the country's arts and humanities capital. All three Indian universities in the top 400 are in Delhi - Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) at 228, Delhi University at 252 and IIT-Delhi at 351.

Indian universities however made a better showing in the ranking for engineering and technology, with ten in the top 400. They are IIT-Delhi (64), IIT-Bombay (68), IIT-Madras (95), IIT-Kharagpur (108), IISc (115), IIT-Kanpur (115), IIT-Roorkee (173), IIT-Guwahati (271), Delhi University (296) and Chennai's Anna University (388).

In business and management education, Indian universities had nine entries in the top 300, with the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) coming out ahead of the other Indians. No Indian institutions in were found good enough to be in the top 100. IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Bombay were ranked between 101 and 150. IIM-Calcutta and IIT-Delhi were placed in 151-200 category, with the Indian School of Business, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Madras and Delhi University were all in the 201-300 bracket.

The QS World University Rankings are an annual affair and usually receive high levels of attention the world over. This year named Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and Harvard University were adjudged the top three best university in the overall ranking.