Jamia scales new heights in THE World University Rankings 2026. Read the report here.
Jamia Millia Islamia has emerged as the highest-ranked Central University and the third-highest-ranked institution in India, achieving a position in the 401–500 band in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026, announced on October 9, 2025.
In a spectacular show of its research and teaching excellence, Jamia has improved its standing, moving up from the 501–600 band last year to the 401–500 band in the 22nd edition of the THE World University Rankings featuring 2,191 universities from 115 countries and territories. Jamia has been ranked third across the country, next only to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, which stood first, followed by the Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai. This makes Jamia the only Central University in India to be placed in the coveted 401-500 band of the international ranking.
Elated at the rankings, Jamia Vice Chancellor Prof. Mazhar Asif and Registrar Prof. Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi congratulated the entire Jamia fraternity and especially the IQAC team on the remarkable achievement.
They said: “This impressive performance is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and collective efforts of our faculty, students, researchers, alumni, non-teaching staff, and our robust industry-academia linkages, all of which have contributed immensely to academic excellence, internationalization, and our visible global relevance.”
They said: “Jamia’s focus on cutting-edge research, interdisciplinary pedagogy, and global collaboration is yielding concrete outcomes. We are confident that JMI will continue to progress and break into the top 200 band in the near future.”
Extending commendation and appreciation on this spectacular performance, Prof. Asif and Prof. Rizvi further said: “Jamia has undertaken continuous and sustained efforts to strengthen its teaching and research profile through enhanced faculty development and research training programmes, increased resource allocation, and cultivating an academic environment where excellence in research is valued.”
“Jamia’s performance in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) India Ranking 2025 released in September 2025 was equally outstanding and further testifies to our concerted efforts in improving and enhancing our research and teaching quality. The university remains steadfast in its commitment to continuing this journey of scholarly distinction and intellectual rigor, aligned with India’s vision of creating world-class universities,” they added.
In the THE World University Rankings 2026, institutions have been ranked on the basis of 18 performance indicators across five areas, teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry impact.
Among Indian institutions, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, continues to lead the country, retaining its position in the 201–250 band in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026, the same as last year. The Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (Chennai) made a jump, rising from the 401–500 band to the 351–400 band, becoming the second-highest ranked Indian university this year as it improved its scores on parameters like teaching (from 34 to 37.9), research environment (from 16 to 18.4), research quality (from 88.6 to 93.4), industry connect (from 19.4 to 20.4), and international outlook (from 71.8 to 72.5). Jamia also improved its standing, moving up from the 501–600 band last year to the 401–500 band in 2026, and the Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences (Himachal Pradesh) maintained its position in the 401–500 band, together securing the third spot among Indian universities in this year’s global rankings.
