Has IISc declined in research?

The decline of IISc in the 2026 QS broad discipline rankings is primarily driven by the ranking methodology, rather than a drop in quality of research. While IISc continues to produce world-class research, it faces challenges in the heavily weighted reputation metrics of the QS system. In the Engineering & Technology category, academic and employer reputation accounts for 70% of the total weightage, where the IITs consistently outperform IISc due to the sheer volume of the IIT alumni in global leadership roles, robust campus recruitment ecosystem and the high students global mobility.

While IISc frequently outpaces the IITs in Citations per Paper, its lower H-index reveals that it does not match volume of high-impact research output as the much larger, multi-departmental IITs. Besides, the IITs have been historically more aggressive in establishing International Research Networks (IRN).

It is interesting to note that Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) achieved an overall score of 73.7 in the same discipline, placing it at 119th rank, ahead of IISc. It is a leap of 23 places from its rank of 142 in the previous year. Its citations per paper and IRN score surpass those of even IIT Delhi, the highest ranked Indian institution in this category.

Despite the slide in broad categories, IISc has dominant presence in Pure Sciences, where it remains the only Indian institution to feature in the global top 100 in core scientific disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science, whereas the IITs continue to lead in the applied landscape, in professional fields like Engineering, Technology, and Management. Besides, due to its research prowess, at the overall institutional level (WUR), IISc continues to be in less than 250 band, far better than VIT but less than IITs.