Lok Sabha Question No. 347 (STARRED), answered on 2025-08-18
Subject: QS World University Rankings 2026
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Dr. C M Ramesh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 347 ANSWERED ON 18.08.2025

## QS World University Rankings 2026

## *347.   Dr. C M Ramesh:

Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  country  has  recorded  its  strongest  presence  in  QS  World  University  Rankings (QS-WUR) 2026, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether Higher Education System of the country is the fastest growing among G20 countries;
- (c)  the  factors  contributing  to  the  fluctuations  in  the  rankings  of  Indian  institutions  in  the  QSWUR during the last five years; and
- (d) the efforts being made by the Government to bring Indian Educational Institutions in the top 500 rank to attract the international students?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (d)  of  LOK  SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  347  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  18.11.2025  ASKED  BY HON'BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT DR. C M RAMESH REGARDING QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2026

(a) to (d): To enhance the quality of higher education, the Government of India has undertaken several measures, including the provision of quality infrastructure, strengthening of the research and innovation ecosystem, promotion of industry-academia linkages etc.

The above initiatives have been complemented by robust accreditation and ranking mechanisms by  National  Board  of  Accreditation  (NBA)  and  the  National  Institutional  Ranking  Framework (NIRF) respectively which galvanised the Indian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to a more competitive environment. The improved quality of education in turn, contributed to significant improvements  in  the  performance  of  Indian  HEIs  in  international  rankings,  including  the  QS World University Rankings (QS WUR).

54  Indian  Institutions  have  been  ranked  in  the  QS  WUR  2026.  This  is  India's  highest  ever representation, marking a growth from 11 institutions in QS WUR 2015 to 54 in QS WUR 2026. Eight Indian institutions have been ranked for the first time, which is the highest number for any country in this edition, both within the G20 and globally.

The number of Indian HEIs featured in the QS World University Rankings has doubled in the past five years, rising from 27 in QS WUR 2021 to 54 in QS WUR 2026, thus underscoring sustained policy  initiatives,  strengthened  research  and  innovation  capacity,  and  the  steadily  rising  global profile of India's higher education system.

Government of India has made concerted efforts to improve Quality of Education in the country. Since 2014, augmentation of Higher Education ecosystem has been undertaken by establishment of  new  Central  Higher  Educational  Institutions  (CHEIs)  in  the  fields  of  Technical  Education, Management, Science Education & Research, Information Technology, and Humanities. CHEIs are  envisaged  to  function  as  pace  setter  institutions  to  provide  academic  leadership  to  other institutions  in  the  region.  Since  2014,  16  Indian  Institutes  of  Information  Technology  (IIIT),  8 Central  Universities  (CU),  8  Indian  Institute  of  Management  (IIM),  7  Indian  Institute  of Technology (IIT), 2 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and 1 National Institute of Technology (NIT) have been established.

In  alignment  with  the  principles  of  NEP  2020,  Anusandhan  National  Research  Foundation (ANRF),  has  been  established  as  an  apex  body  to  provide  high-level  strategic  direction  for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the fields of natural sciences including mathematical sciences, engineering and technology, environmental and earth sciences, health and agriculture. Total estimated cost of Anusandhan National Research Foundation for five years is Rs. 50,000 crores.

Government  has  also  approved  a  new  Central  Sector  Scheme,  One  Nation  One  Subscription (ONOS). ONOS envisages to expand access to scholarly journals to a vast diaspora of students, faculty, researchers and scientists of all disciplines, of all Higher Educational Institutions under the management of the Central or State Government and Research & Development Institutions of the Central Government, through a national subscription coordinated by a central agency. More than 6300 such institutions are covered under this scheme. A total of about Rs.6,000 crore has been allocated for the scheme for 3 calendar years, 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Ministry of Education launched the World Class Institutions scheme in the year 2017 to grant the status of Institution of Eminence (IoE) to 10 higher educational institutions each from the public and private category and enable them to emerge as world class teaching and research institutions. Twelve institutions have been notified as IoE so far. These include includes 08 public category institutions, namely - IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IISc Bangalore, BHU Varanasi, University of Hyderabad, and University of Delhi and 04 private category institutions namely - BITS Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, O.P. Jindal Global University and Shiv  Nadar  University,  Greater  Noida.  Only  public  institutions  are  provided  funds  under  the scheme. An amount of Rs 6198.99 Crore (approximately) has been sanctioned for the 08 public institutions since the inception of the scheme.

The 'Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education' (MERITE) Scheme  has  been  approved  for  implementation  in  275  technical  institutions  comprising  175 engineering  institutions  and  100  polytechnics.  The  objective  of  the  scheme  is  to  improve  the quality, equity and governance in technical education covering all States/UTs by implementing interventions  aligned  with  the  National  Educational  Policy-2020  (NEP-2020).  It  is  a  'Central Sector Scheme' with total financial implication of Rs.4200 crore for a period from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Furthermore,  in  order  to  conduct  interdisciplinary  research,  develop  cutting-edge  applications, and  create  scalable  solutions  in  three  areas  of  health,  sustainable  cities  and  Agriculture, Government  has  approved  establishment  of  three  Centre  of  Excellence  (CoE)  in  Artificial intelligence (Al), one each in the areas of health, sustainable cities and agriculture with a total financial  outlay  of  Rs.  990.00  Cr  over  the  period  of  FY  2023-24  to  FY  2027-28.  The  Budget 2025-26 has also provided for setting up of an AI CoE in field of Education with an outlay of Rs. 500 crores.

To promote 'Internationalization of Education' in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India several initiatives have been undertaken by Ministry of Education including:

-  University  Grant  Commission's  (UGC's)  Regulations  2022  enables  framework  for Academic Collaboration between  Indian and Foreign  Higher Educational  Institutions  to offer Twinning, Joint Degree and Dual Degree Programmes.
-  UGC  has  issued  'UGC  (Setting  up  and  Operation  of  Campuses  of  Foreign  Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations 2023' to facilitate establishment of branch campuses of Foreign HEIs in India. As on 4 th August, 2025, 12 foreign universities have been issued letter of Intent (LoI) by the UGC for establishing their campuses in India.
-  Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) to encourage research collaboration between top Indian Institutes with the premier foreign institutes.
-  Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) scheme to bring the best of international expertise into India's education system. The scheme seeks to tap into a global talent pool of eminent faculty members,  scientists, and entrepreneurs, and to promote their engagement with Higher Education Institutions across the country.

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