New Delhi [India], July 29 (ANI): The vision set forth by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is rapidly becoming a reality, as India is on track to become the second-best represented country in the world—behind only the United States—in the 2026 edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, according to a senior THE official.
“In the 2026 edition of the world rankings, to be published at the World Academic Summit on October 8 this year, India will break new records to become the second-best represented nation in the world, behind only the US,” said Phil Baty, Chief Global Affairs Officer at Times Higher Education.
“In 2019, the year before NEP 2020, India had a respectable 49 universities in the rankings—around 4 percent of all ranked institutions. In the 2026 edition, India’s representation will have almost tripled, to 128 ranked universities, representing nearly 6 percent of all ranked universities,” he added.
Baty’s remarks come on the fifth anniversary of India’s National Education Policy. He emphasized that this achievement demonstrates a nationwide commitment by Indian universities to collect better data, participate in global benchmarking, and engage with the international academic community to foster research collaboration and talent exchange.
He also noted that India is not just making progress in representation but also in quality. “India’s National Education Policy of 2020 was so pioneering and bold that many said at its launch five years ago that it was simply too ambitious to succeed,” he said.
“One commentator wrote in Times Higher Education at the time that the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inspiring, and the planned reforms were commendable. However, whether any of this comes to pass remains unclear… it is far from a given that the document will even be implemented,” Baty recalled.
“Exactly five years since NEP 2020 was formally launched on July 29, 2020, there is a growing body of independent evidence that, despite the dramatic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bold vision is rapidly becoming a reality,” he added.
“Certainly, regarding ambitions to improve higher education quality and to finally embrace full internationalization of Indian higher education, Times Higher Education’s data is clear: the plans are working.”
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings evaluate globally-oriented research-intensive universities across 18 rigorous performance metrics, focusing on teaching, research, international outlook, and knowledge transfer between universities and industry.
Baty revealed that several Indian universities will achieve their highest-ever ranking positions in the upcoming 2026 edition. “India as a whole will be one of the most improved nations year-on-year overall. This reflects improvement across multiple areas, but it is in the key area of research where India’s leading universities are making the most rapid progress,” he said.
He noted that India was the single most rapidly improving country in THE’s “research quality” performance pillar among larger nations in last year’s rankings.
Moreover, Baty highlighted India’s growing recognition in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings (to be relaunched in 2026 as the Sustainability Impact Ratings), which assess universities’ social and economic contributions based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These rankings examine universities’ teaching, research, community outreach, and internal resource stewardship across hundreds of metrics aligned with all 17 UN SDGs.
The latest results, published at the Global Sustainable Development Congress last month, showed India as a world leader in this domain. India had eight universities in the global top 200 and several in the top 10 for individual SDGs. Notably, for SDG 7—Clean and Affordable Energy—India had three universities ranked in the global top 10.
“At its launch five years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the ‘National Education Policy will set the foundation for 21st century India.’ Thanks to the boldness of the ambition, a nationwide implementation drive, and the embrace of international performance standards, the foundations are now laid for India to take its rightful place to help lead the next 75 years of the Asian century,” Baty concluded. (ANI)
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