India now has the second-highest number of institutes in global rankings, behind the United States, as per the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has emerged as the top Indian institute in the THE ranking with a position in the 201-250 rank band.
The other institutes in the top band are-
- Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai- 351-400 band
- Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Himachal Pradesh- 401-500 rank band.
The institutes in the 501-600 rank band are- Banaras Hindu University (BHU), IIT Indore, KIIT University (Bhubaneswar), Lovely Professional University (Phagwara), Mahatma Gandhi University (Kottayam), and UPES (Dehradun).
The institutes in the 601-800 rank band are-
- IIT Patna
- IIIT Hyderabad
- Amity University, Noida
- Bharathiar University (Coimbatore)
- Central University of Punjab (Bhatinda)
- Aligarh Muslim University
- Graphic Era University (Dehradun)
- Chitkara University (Chandigarh)
- NIT Rourkela
- Panjab University
- University of Delhi
- VIT University.
According to Times Higher Education, "The US has six more spots in the top 20 and a total of 35 in the top 100 – down from 38 last year. While it still dominates the top 500, with 102 ranked institutions, this is its lowest number on record. Its average score has dipped and 25 of its institutions – more than in any other country – have slumped to their lowest-ever positions, including the University of Chicago (15th), Columbia University (20th) and Duke University (28th)."
Globally, the University of Oxford has become the best varsity in the world for the 10th consecutive year. The other top 10 institutes are-
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States- Rank 2
- Princeton University, US, University of Cambridge, UK- Rank 3
- Harvard University, Stanford University, US- Rank 5
- California Institute of Technology, US- Rank 7
- Imperial College London, UK- Rank 8
- University of California, US- Rank 9
- Yale University, US- Rank 10.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026 feature 2,191 institutions from 115 countries.
