New Delhi: Nine of the top 10 Indian institutions, including seven IITs, have seen a decline in their positions in the QS Asia University Rankings 2026, with universities in China, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore outperforming them, the Indian Express reported.According to the rankings released by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, IIT Delhi remains the country’s top-ranked institution for the second consecutive year but has fallen 15 places to the 59th position, its lowest in recent years. Among the top 10 Indian institutions, IIT Bombay recorded the steepest fall, dropping 23 ranks to 71st. IIT Bombay had been India’s highest-ranked institution between 2021 and 2024.Five IITs – Delhi, Madras, Bombay, Kanpur, and Kharagpur – recorded their lowest ranks in recent years. Chandigarh University was the only Indian institution among the top 10 to improve its position, rising from 120 to 109.Globally, the University of Hong Kong secured the top spot, followed by China’s Peking University in second place and the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University in joint third. Institutions from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia dominate the top 20 positions.“The 2026 edition of the QS Asia University Rankings reflects a clear eastward concentration of top performance, driven by sustained improvement in East and Southeast Asian higher education systems,” QS told the Indian Express.Referring to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia, QS added: “In contrast, Indian institutions — while retaining strong reputations — face stiffer competition from these countries, which are outperforming them in research impact, faculty resources, and international engagement,” it added.Although nine of India’s top 10 institutions saw a fall in rank, their total scores improved compared to last year. The QS methodology assesses academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, international research network, citations per paper, papers per faculty, staff with PhD, and measures of internationalisation.Indian institutions performed well on academic and employer reputation, staff with PhDs, and papers per faculty. However, they lagged in citations per paper, faculty-student ratio, and internationalisation metrics. On citations per paper, IIT Delhi scored 31.5, IIT Bombay 20.0, and IIT Madras 20.3, compared to top Asian universities that scored in the 90s. Indian institutions “saw weaker scores in this metric…indicating reduced research visibility or fewer highly cited outputs compared to regional peers. Declines or stagnation in this indicator are visible across the IITs…compared with stronger regional peers who are accelerating research collaborations and publication output” QS said.On the faculty-student ratio, IIT Kharagpur scored 16.5 and IIT Delhi 40.9, “reflecting large class sizes and resource constraints relative to leading Asian universities,” it added. On the international student ratio, IITs scored between 2.5 (IIT Kharagpur) and 12.3 (IIT Roorkee), far below top-ranked institutions that scored close to 100. QS said limited international student and faculty presence keeps IITs at a structural disadvantage compared to peers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea.This year’s QS Asia rankings expanded to include over 550 new institutions, increasing competition and volatility. The 2026 edition features 1,529 institutions. China added 261 new institutions, while India added 137, bringing its total to 294. China surpassed India as the most-represented country in the rankings, the Hindu reported.Of the 157 Indian institutions featured last year, 105 (67%) saw a fall in their 2026 rank. QS noted that South Korean universities such as Yonsei University and Korea University have climbed into the top 20, while Malaysian universities including Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia have also improved their positions, driven by gains in faculty-student ratio and internationalisation.