New Delhi, Nov 4 Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to his official X platform on Tuesday to celebrate what he called a record leap in Indian higher education, declaring himself glad to see the number of Indian universities in the QS Asia University Rankings soar by 1,125 per cent over the past decade, from a mere 24 in 2016 to 294 this year.
"Our government is committed to ensuring quality education for our youth, with a focus on research and innovation," PM Modi wrote, adding that New Delhi is building institutional capacities by enabling more educational institutions across the country.
The Prime Minister's enthusiasm was backed by striking data: India now trails only China (395 universities) in representation, having welcomed 137 fresh entrants this edition.
Five Indian institutions occupy Asia's top 10 for papers per faculty, and 28 sit in the top 50, more than double China's tally, underlining a research engine that churns out high-impact publications and staffs laboratories with PhD holders.
Seven Indian names grace the continental top 100, the same tally as last year yet a mark of resilience amid ferocious competition.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi held firm as the nation's standard-bearer, climbing to 59th with a score of 78.6, propelled by employer acclaim and citation surges.
The Indian Institute of Science Bangalore followed at 64th (76.5), IIT Madras at 70th (75.1), IIT Bombay at 71st (75.0), IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur sharing 77th (both 73.4), and the University of Delhi at 95th (68.5), proof that prestige now radiates beyond the IIT cluster into broad-based public universities.
At the summit, the University of Hong Kong displaced Peking University to claim first place, while Singapore's National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University shared third, reaffirming the grip of Hong Kong, mainland China, and the city-state on elite status.
QS chief Executive Jessica Turner credited the National Education Policy's five-year legacy for forging "system-level capacity that is globally relevant and locally empowering", yet cautioned that the coming decade demands deeper global partnerships and digital-age curricula if India is to breach the podium.
Absolute positions dipped for most flagship IITs, IIT Bombay falling 23 places, a slide analysts attribute to rivals' rapid gains in international faculty hires, inbound student diversity, and faculty-student ratios.
Foreign academics and overseas undergraduates remain rare on Indian soil, and infrastructure investment still trails Singapore's NUS, Beijing's Tsinghua, or Seoul's KAIST.
As Vice-Chancellors in New Delhi and Bengaluru dissect the tables, one certainty crystallises: India's universities are sprinting, yet the finish line keeps drifting eastward.
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