ISM Dhanbad leads with 20th place for Engineering-Mineral and Mining; and in total, nine Indian institutions have ranked among the world’s top 50 in the 15th QS World University Rankings by Subject
India celebrates 12 top-50 positions across the subject rankings and the broad faculty areas, earned by nine institutions, as per the 15th edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, announced on Wednesday. Nine institutions from India are among world’s top 50 in QS subject-wise rankings even though some of the top institutions on the list including three IITs, two IIMs and JNU saw a drop in their positions.
Highest position holder is Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad, which ranks 20th globally for Engineering-Mineral and Mining, making it India’s top-performing subject area.
Some private universities have also performed pretty well. OP Jindal Global University (JGU) has retained its top rank in law and legal studies and has also secured top rankings in five new disciplines. The institution has been ranked as the 3rd private university in India 360th in the world for Arts & Humanities.
Shoolini University has performed well in research and innovation. Environmental Sciences has made a jump from the 401-450 band in 2024 to 251-300 in 2025, now ranked 9th in India and 1st among private universities.
IIT Bombay and Delhi shared the 45th rank for Engineering and Technology; they have improved their position to bag the 28th and 26th rank, respectively.
IIT Hyderabad has been ranked among the world’s top universities in six subjects. In the broad subject area ‘Engineering & Technology’, the institute ranked between 501-550 for the first time, securing 1st rank among second generation IITs and 8th rank among all IITs.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Kharagpur have been ranked at 28th and 45th spot for Engineering-Mineral and Mining. Both these institutions have seen a slight drop in their positions. The two institutions have also improved their rank for Engineering-Electrical and Electronic to enter the top 50 list.
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore & Ahmedabad continued to be among world’s top 50 for Business and Management and Business Studies but their ranking has dropped since last year. While IIM Bangalore slipped to 40 from 32, that of IIM Ahmedabad’s ranking dropped to 27 from 22.
Jawaharlal Nehru University (Development Studies) and IIT Madras (Petroleum Engineering) continued to be among world’s top 50; both these institutions’ ranks also dropped by few spots.
QS said in a statement, “A total of 79 Indian universities – 10 more than last year – feature 533 times across this year’s rankings, marking a 25.7 per cent increase compared to the previous edition. This includes 454 entries in individual subjects and 79 appearances across the five broad faculty areas.”
In the latest edition of the QS subject-specific rankings, India has the fifth highest number of new entries behind China, the US, the UK and Korea and ranks 12th for the number of overall entries.
“The high number of the new entries featured in the rankings is a continuation of a trend of the country’s growing higher education ecosystem, both in terms of size and quality,” QS added.
