In the latest edition of the QS World University Ranking released early Wednesday morning, the University of Delhi has made the biggest jump of 79 ranks — from 407 last year to 328 in 2024. In India, this central university has improved its rank from ninth last year to seventh this time.
Delhi University also stands out in Employment Outcomes, boasting a global rank of 44 and a robust score of 96.0, highlighting the employability of its graduates.
‘Focus on research, proper utilization of grants key reason behind improvement’
The reason behind this improvement in the ranking of the University of Delhi is the focus on improving the quality of research, said Yogesh Singh, vice-chancellor of the University of Delhi (DU).
“We are very happy and proud of this achievement. Our ranking has been improving for the past few years and we have been in the top position in the past two years due to focus on research. The Government of India has declared DU a public Institution of Eminence, and under that framework, we got money for research, upliftment, innovations and post doc fellowships in the infrastructure. So, this gave a boost to the whole system,” Singh told indianexpress.com.
Singh also added that the institute has hired a good number of faculty members, which will further help in the improvement of the ranking. “Overall, the university has been doing very well, which is evident from the ranking system,” he added.
Talking about the future of the central university, Singh quickly added that he believes the direction in which Delhi University is headed is right “and our team of 400-500 people are working day and night for improvement of not only the quality of education but also providing focus to research, innovation and new experiments. I am very confident that next year’s also we will get better and better ranks,” he added.
Why IITs lead the way
Every year, IITs dominate the top positions in the national and international rankings. In the QS World University Ranking 2025, seven out of the top 10 ranks in India have been achieved by IITs (IIT Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur, and Guwahati).
In this dominance of IITs, Delhi University has carved its space but still fails to achieve a top spot in the top 5 institutes of India.
The reason is that IITs and DU cater to different kinds of students. “We have to understand the nature of Delhi University. We provide education to the masses. Also, DU has a different culture. IITs are specialized institutes focusing on science and engineering, but we have all types of education such as science, medicine, technology, law, social work, humanities, arts, social science, and more,” said Yogesh Singh.
“We are producing more than two-three lakh students every year. Also, ranking is the only aspect of this growth, see the contribution of Delhi University in the development of India,” he concluded.
QS World University Ranking 2025
Like last year, this time too, IIT Bombay has retained its top spot in the India list. The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) has climbed from 149 in 2024 to 118 in the 2025 rankings, ie a climb of 31 ranks. It is followed by IIT Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) this year too, as the two institutes ranked second and third in India respectively.
The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has achieved the fourth spot as it went from 271 in the 2024 rankings to 222 this time. IIT KGP is followed by IIT Madras which climbed 58 ranks (285 to 227) this year. IIT Madras has taken the position of IIT Kanpur this time, which has slipped to the sixth position, even after climbing from 278 to 263 this year.
After IIT Kanpur is Delhi University at the sixth spot, followed by the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR), Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) and Anna University at the 8th, 9th and 10th ranks, respectively.