New Delhi: For the second year in a row, no Indian university has secured a place in the top 50 of the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2027, released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on Wednesday (November 3). The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi remains the country’s highest-ranked institution, but it has fallen to 66th from 59th last year.All six of India’s highest-ranked universities slipped, the newly-released rankings have revealed. While the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, dropped to 79th from 64th, IIT Bombay fell to 83rd from 71st. Similarly, IIT Madras fell to 85th from 70th, IIT Kharagpur to 90th from 77th and IIT Kanpur to 97th from 77th. Delhi University dropped out of the top 100, from 95th to 106th. Chandigarh University, Lovely Professional University and Jamia Millia Islamia were among the Indian institutions that improved their positions, reported Indian Express.A research powerhouse, with less impactThe rankings point to a gap between how much Indian universities publish and how far that work travels. India has 27 universities among Asia’s top 50 for Papers per Faculty, which measures research output relative to academic staff. Five of them are in the top 10 and two in the top five, more than any other higher education system in the region. Fifteen Indian universities share first place in Asia for the proportion of staff with PhDs.That output has not translated into comparable influence. Only three Indian universities are in Asia’s top 50 for Citations per Paper, the measure of how often published research is cited by others.Employer reputation is a relative strength. QS said IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi placed seventh and 10th in Asia on that indicator, the first Indian universities in the region’s top 10 on any measure, though employer recognition remains concentrated in a small number of institutions, according to PTI.More institutions, lower positionsIndia’s representation in the table has grown to 325 institutions from 294 last year, with 34 new entrants, making it Asia’s second most represented higher education system. Since 2016, the number of ranked Indian institutions has risen from 24 to 325, an increase of more than 1,250%, or around 27% a year. Mainland China’s count grew by about 315% over the same period, Indonesia’s by 164%, Japan’s by 44% and South Korea’s by 30%.The regional order has meanwhile shifted. The University of Hong Kong stays first, ahead of Peking University, while Tsinghua University rises to third. Hong Kong has five universities in the top 10, according to QS. No Indian university is in that group.‘Strong foundation’Ben Sowter, QS senior vice-president, said India has built remarkable research capacity. The challenge now, he said, is to “translate this strength more consistently into research impact and international recognition”. Several leading institutions have fallen as competition grows across Asia, he added, but India has a strong foundation to build on.The numbers suggest the competition is moving faster than the improvement. India’s universities are doing more research per teacher than almost anyone in Asia, and they are being outranked all the same.