IIT-Delhi tops Indian varsities in QS rankings; IISc bags 376th spot

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, emerged as the top university in the country for sustainability, according to the QS 2025 Sustainability Rankings announced on Tuesday.

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Globally, IIT-Delhi climbed an impressive 255 places to secure the 171st position, marking a new high for the institute.

The QS Sustainability Rankings evaluate universities worldwide on their contributions to solving environmental and social challenges. This year’s list included 1,740 universities from 107 countries, compared to 1,397 in the previous edition.

IIT-Delhi (55) and IIT-Kanpur (87) have been ranked among the world’s top 100 universities for environmental impact. While, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru (32), also earned accolades, ranking among the top 50 globally for environment education.

Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was ranked at 522, Jamia Milia Islamia (737), Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (545), Panjab Univesity at 710, Lovely Professional University (749) and Chitkara at 811.

“Of the 78 Indian universities that feature in the 2025 QS Sustainability Rankings, 34 have improved on last year’s placing and eight have maintained their positions,” said Ben Sowter, vice president of London-based QS. He added, “This is an excellent achievement for the Indian higher education ecosystem and shows that Indian universities are forging ahead with their sustainability initiatives.”

Despite the gains in environmental impact, Sowter noted areas where Indian universities could improve. “Within the Social Impact category, Indian universities can look to improve their indicator scores in the Health and Wellbeing, Impact of Education, and Equality lenses, where no institutions from the country feature in the top 350,” he said. However, Indian universities performed better in the Knowledge Exchange and Employability and Outcomes categories, reflecting their strengths in research and industry collaboration.

This year’s rankings saw participation from 78 Indian universities, with nine of the top 10 institutions improving their positions and 21 new institutions making their debut.

The rankings are led globally by the University of Toronto, followed by ETH, Zurich. Lund University in Sweden and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), tied for third place.

Citing the latest QS International Students Survey, Jessica Turner, CEO of QS, said, “Sustainability is a top priority for today’s students, with nine in 10 identifying it as important and 40 per cent actively researching universities’ sustainability strategies during the application process.” This underscores the urgency for sustainability to remain at the forefront of institutional agendas, she said.

QS’ methodology for the ‘World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025’ is based on university performance across three assessment categories —Environmental Impact, Social Impact and Governance.