The Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru has retained its position as the highest-ranked higher education institute in the country in the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings for 2019, which was released on Wednesday. The Indian Institute of Technology in Indore came second, ahead of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.

However, no Indian education institute features in the global top 250 universities. The number of Indian institutions in the rankings has increased from 42 last year to 49, making it the fifth most-represented country.

“Our efforts in making research the focus of the institute is now reflected in the form of citations and other impact metrics of research,” IIT Indore Director Pradeep Mathur told Times Higher Education. “We continue to make research the focus of all our programmes which is why you see even our undergraduate students are active participants of research projects and collaborations within India and internationally too.”

The Tsinghua University in China, which rose eight places to 22nd, has overtaken the National University of Singapore to become the best university in Asia. A Chinese university has topped Asia rankings for the first time since the current methodology was adopted in 2011.

Oxford continued to top the list while Cambridge came second and Stanford third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose one place to number four and the California Institute of Technology took the fifth spot.