In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings released on September 30, Saveetha Institute scored 95.1 on that measure. Cornell got 94.7 and Columbia 94.9.
Meanwhile, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the country's top‑ranked university overall by THE, sits 65th among 143 Indian institutions on the same metric.
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THE RANK THAT FELL
IISc leads India at joint 254th globally as per the THE 2027 rankings. That is a drop from the 201–250 band it occupied in each of the previous three editions. Only three Indian institutes made the global top 500: IISc, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (326 to 350) and Shoolini University (451 to 500).
Look at IISc's scores and the problem jumps out. It scored 62.1 in teaching, 58.6 in research environment and a striking 98.0 in industry. Research quality came in at 51.5, its second‑weakest pillar after international outlook (31.1). Yet it is the biggest slice of THE's formula, worth 30 points out of 100 in the overall score.
THE 30% PROBLEM
Check out the ranks and research quality scores of some of the institutes in India placed above IISc:
| Rank in India | University | Research Quality Score |
| 1 | Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences | 95.1 |
| 2 | Graphic Era University | 93.6 |
| 3 | Chitkara University | 87.1 |
| 4 | Lovely Professional University | 87.0 |
| 5 | Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences | 86.0 |
| 9 | Sharda University | 80.3 |
| 12 | Amity University, Noida | 76.9 |
| 23 | Galgotias University | 67.0 |
| 27 | Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur | 66.4 |
| 31 | Adani Institute of Higher Education and Research (deemed to be university) | 65.7 |
| 33 | OP Jindal Global University | 65.1 |
| 37 | Manipal Academy of Higher Education | 62.0 |
| 38 | Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology | 61.7 |
| 41 | Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science | 60.4 |
| 48 | Christ University | 58.5 |
| 53 | Amity University, Gurugram | 56.8 |
| 65 | Indian Institute of Science | 51.5 |
Galgotias University scored 67 and ranks 23rd. Amity University Noida scored 76.9 and ranks 12th. Both beat IISc.
On research environment (a different metric deciding THE rankings), which covers funding and reputation, IISc leads India at 58.6.
IISc's research environment score is the highest among Indian institutions in the table, but its research quality score is much lower. The contrast shows that the two THE pillars are measuring different things: research environment is driven largely by reputation, income and productivity, while research quality is based on bibliometric measures of research impact.
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