Only eight Indian institutes have made it to the top 500 of QS World University Ranking 2021. IITs dominate the list with only Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru as an exception. Rank-wise the performance of some Indian institutes has declined. IIT Bombay, top among Indian institutes, was placed at 152nd rank in 2020 rankings and has slipped to 172nd ranking this year. The list was again dominated by various Universities in the US and the MIT was the top rank holder. When it comes to Asia, the top ranked University was the National University of Singapore.

Indian entrants to the top 500 in the QS World Ranking are predictable names. Apart from IIT Bombay, other institutes that have made it to the top 500 include Indian Institute of Science at 185th rank, IIT Delhi at 193rd rank, IIT Madras at 275th rank, IIT Kharagpur at 314th rank, IIT Kanpur at 350th rank, IIT Roorkee at 383rd rank, and IIT Guwahati at 470th rank. Delhi University is placed in the 501-510 bracket. IIT Hyderabad is among top 650 institutes in the world. Jadavpur University, Savitribai Phule Pune University and University of Hyderabad are ranked among top 700 (651-700 bracket). Jamia Millia Islamia is in the 751-800 bracket and Aligarh Muslim University has barely made it to the top 1000 and have landed in the 801-1000 bracket. Other central Universities that are in this group include Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Anna University, Banaras Hindu University, and University of Calcutta.

The institutes have been ranked on the following six metrics - Academic, Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio

Higher education consultancy QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) releases the World University Ranking of top 1000 universities every year. This year's ranking features 1,029 universities in the world. Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) in United States of America continues to be at the top spot, ninth year in a row. Stanford University, Harvard University, and California Institute of Technology - all American Universities - are at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rank respectively. Top 5 is rounded up by University of Oxford in United Kingdom. The institutes have been ranked on the following six metrics - Academic, Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio.