Four Indian education institutes make it to QS Next 100 under 50 rankings

IIT Guwahati top ranked among Indian institutes under fifty years of age

Led by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, four Indian institutes have made it to the 2021 edition of QS 'Next 100 under 50' rankings. With the debut of IIT Hyderabad as the second best young Indian institute under the age of fifty years, India's representation increased by one in the latest edition from three institutes last year.

The other two Indian institutes under the age of fifty years include University of Hyderabad as the third best and OP Jindal Global University as the fourth best.

In all, four Indian universities feature in the Next 100 under 50 table, one more than last year, thanks to the debut of IIT Hyderabad in the 101-150 band. However, no Indian university made it to the top 50 under 50 rankings yet.

Overall, Asian higher education institutions have taken four of the top five positions in the 2021 edition of the Top 50 under 50 rankings by by global higher education analysts QS (Quacquarelli Symonds).

Globally, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) retained its status as the world’s leading young institution under fifty years of age.

NTU is closely followed by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, South Korea’s KAIST, and City University of Hong Kong. All of the top four institutions have also reached the global top-50 in the overall QS World University Rankings despite their relatively recent formation.

Beyond the top-ten, the strengths of other higher education sectors in the Asia-Pacific region are also evidenced by this ranking. Australia, with nine featured universities among the fifty, enjoys higher levels of representation than any other location.

Europe’s top young university is Université PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres), which has immediately established itself as one of the world’s top 100 universities in the short time since it gained collegiate university status by decree in 2019. Its compatriot, Sorbonne University, places 8th, behind The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (6th) and South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology (7th).  

The top ten is completed by Finland’s Aalto University and Universiti Putra Malaysia, the latter of whom is a debutant among the top ten, and which epitomises the recent rise of Malaysia’s higher education sector.

The average age of the top ten universities is 25.4 years, with three - Université PSL, Sorbonne University, and Aalto University – having been formed by foundation or merger within the last decade.

According to Ben Sowter, Director of Research at QS, QS’s decision to publish a list of the world’s top 150 young universities is backed by two recognition. "The first is that reputations, resources, and world-class outcomes are typically built over time, and, in the higher education sector, the period over which some institutions have been able to do so has been one of centuries. We are therefore keen to illuminate the outstanding achievements made by universities that have not enjoyed the same historical advantages as their competitors," said Sowter.

The second reason has been that due to higher education being in a state of flux, identifying trends across this particular ranking makes it possible to identify those higher education sectors that are becoming increasingly – or less – prominent.

"As the world faces unprecedented higher education demand, such capacity-building work demands the creation of new institutions equipped to teach and research to world-class standards. Our results show that, beyond the widely-anticipated initial success of France’s mergers, the strongest challengers to established hierarchies are in the Asia-Pacific region," Sowter added.