India’s university rise broadens beyond IITs, but internationalisation lags
More than half of India’s ranked universities improved their position in the QS World University Rankings 2027 , with 18 institutions achieving their highest-ever positions as gains increasingly spread beyond the country’s elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The rankings feature 52 Indian universities, up from just 14 a decade ago, making India the world’s fifth most represented higher education system behind the US, UK, mainland China and Germany. Over the past decade, India’s presence in the rankings has grown by 271% – the fastest proportional increase of any G20 nation. Some 26 Indian universities improved their position this year, nine remained stable, 15 declined and two entered the rankings for the first time. At the top of the table, IIT Delhi climbed to 118th globally, matching the highest position ever achieved by an Indian institution, a record previously set by IIT Bombay in 2025. IIT Bombay ranked 134th, followed by IIT Madras at 170th, IIT Kharagpur at 205th, and IIT Kanpur and IISc Bangalore, which were jointly ranked 221st. University of Delhi remained India’s highest-ranked non-STEM institution at 322nd globally. However, the most significant trend this year was the widening distribution of rankings success beyond the IIT sector. Among the strongest performers were Vellore Institute of Technology, which rose 94 places to 597th globally, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, which climbed 93 places to 575th, and Shoolini University, which entered India’s top 10 after rising 51 places to 452nd. Chandigarh University climbed 49 places to 526th, while Jamia Millia Islamia advanced more than 75 places to 686th. According to QS, 13 of the 18 institutions reaching all-time high positions this year were non-IIT universities. The number of ranked non-IIT institutions has increased from seven in 2017 to 43 today, while ranked institutions now span 19 states and union territories compared with just nine a decade ago. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the results reflected the impact of reforms introduced under National Education Policy 2020. “India’s strong performance in the latest global university rankings reflects the transformative impact of NEP 2020, with 52 universities across 19 states and union territories now represented and more than half improving their positions,” said Pradhan. “As institutions such as Indian Institute of Technology Delhi achieve record-high rankings, India is emerging as a leading global knowledge hub, driven by research, innovation and the talent of its youth.” The rankings also highlighted areas where Indian universities are increasingly competitive internationally. India now has 11 universities among the world’s top 100 for citations per faculty, a measure of research impact, while six institutions rank among the global top 100 for employer reputation. Bharathiar University, one of two Indian debutants this year, entered directly into the global top 100 for citations per faculty, ranking 75th worldwide on the indicator. Graduate employability emerged as another area of strength. The University of Mumbai climbed 70 places to 25th globally for employment outcomes, one of the most significant single-year improvements recorded in this edition of the rankings, while the University of Delhi ranked 35th globally on the indicator. More than a third of Indian universities improved their employer reputation score, giving India the second-highest net improvement in Asia on the indicator, behind only Taiwan. India’s performance also stood out against a challenging year for several established higher education systems. While 52% of Indian universities improved their ranking, only 35% of UK institutions and 16% of German universities recorded gains. In the United States, just 13% of ranked institutions improved while 66% declined. Mainland China remained the strongest-performing major system, with 72% of ranked institutions improving and 13 universities entering the rankings. Globally, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology retained the top position for a 15th consecutive year, while Stanford University and Imperial College London shared second place. Oxford and Harvard completed the top five. Elsewhere, Australia saw 58% of institutions improve, with UNSW Sydney becoming the country’s highest-ranked university for the first time, while Canada endured a difficult year with 66% of universities declining despite McGill University retaining its position as the country’s top institution. We are seeing improvement across a much broader cross-section of the sector, suggesting that long-term investments and reforms are beginning to translate into measurable outcomes Ashwin Fernandes, QS India Despite the positive results, the rankings also underscored persistent challenges facing Indian higher education. QS identified internationalisation as one of the sector’s weakest areas, with 90% of institutions recording no improvement in international student numbers and only one Indian university ranking among the world’s top 500 for international faculty representation. Academic reputation also remained a challenge. Just 8% of Indian universities improved on the indicator, compared with 28% that declined, suggesting that gains in research output and graduate outcomes are not yet translating into equivalent levels of international recognition. The rankings noted that India continues to host relatively small numbers of international students compared with major destinations such as Australia, Canada and the UK, despite government efforts to expand inbound mobility through initiatives such as Study in India. The challenge was also highlighted in a NITI Aayog report published earlier this year, which estimated India could host 1.1 million international students by 2047 if barriers including limited scholarships, infrastructure constraints and concerns around global perceptions of Indian higher education are addressed. Commenting on the results, Ashwin Fernandes, chair of QS India and vice president for strategic and international engagement at QS, said the breadth of progress was particularly significant. “What makes this edition of the rankings compelling is its breadth. Progress is no longer concentrated among a handful of elite institutions. We are seeing improvement across a much broader cross-section of the sector, suggesting that long-term investments and reforms are beginning to translate into measurable outcomes,” he said. “For years, the story of Indian higher education was one of potential. Increasingly, it is becoming a story of delivery.” The post India’s university rise broadens beyond IITs, but internationalisation lags appeared first on The PIE News .
18 Jun 2026
Opportunity is shaped by where you live, who you are, and how much money your family had
David Kernohan reads in to a new report from the Sutton Trust on how ethnicity, gender, place, and poverty combine to determine opportunity
17 Jun 2026
Opportunity is shaped by where you live, who you are, and how much money your family had
David Kernohan reads in to a new report from the Sutton Trust on how ethnicity, gender, place, and poverty combine to determine opportunity
17 Jun 2026
Harvard and Bard face fresh questions from lawmakers over ties to Epstein
Democrat Jamie Raskin seeks ‘comprehensive accounting’ and requests interview with outgoing Bard president Harvard University and Bard College are facing new questions about the institutions’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein amid allegations that the convicted child sex trafficker leveraged his ties to the universities and their faculty to traffic women, while also burnishing his reputation to avoid detection. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said in a statement that Harvard and Bard had both previously attempted to investigate the role their universities and leadership played in facilitating Epstein’s abuse, but that those attempts either failed or fell short of a full accounting of what occurred. Continue reading...
17 Jun 2026
Why a civil war among the British right could hand today's crucial byelection to Andy Burnham
When The Journal visited this week, almost every street had a house displaying a Reform poster – but the party faces a challenge from its right flank.
17 Jun 2026
Rotunda allowed public-only anaesthesiologists and paediatricians to bill private insurers
Multiple consultants outside obstetrics who were appointed directly to public-only contracts were permitted to bill insurers for epidurals, C-section anaesthesia and newborn reviews.
17 Jun 2026
New HEPI Report ‘Interconnected Innovation: Physical connectivity as the missing ingredient in UK research and innovation policy’
The UK’s research strengths are world-class, but too often they operate in isolation rather than as part of a connected national system. A new HEPI report argues that better transport and infrastructure links could unlock significant gains in collaboration, innovation and economic growth. Interconnected Innovation: Physical connectivity as the missing ingredient in UK research and innovation policy (Report 202) challenges policymakers to rethink how research investment is assessed and delivered. The report highlights evidence that improving physical connections between places can have a dramatic impact on collaboration, with one study finding that linking cities through cost-effective flights can increase scientific partnerships by as much as 30 to 50 per cent. Yet despite these potential gains, transport connectivity remains largely absent from discussions about research funding and innovation policy. The authors argue that the UK’s relatively compact geography should be a major competitive advantage, but that current approaches often focus too heavily on individual institutions or regions rather than the networks that connect them. The report calls for greater investment not only in research assets but also in the “connective tissue” of the research ecosystem, including transport links, shared infrastructure, mobility schemes and collaborative networks. In doing so, it offers a fresh perspective on how the UK can maximise the value of its existing research strengths. At a time when policymakers are searching for ways to boost productivity, innovation and economic growth, this report makes the case for a more joined-up approach that aligns research policy with infrastructure planning. To read the press release and find a download link to the full report, click here. The post New HEPI Report ‘Interconnected Innovation: Physical connectivity as the missing ingredient in UK research and innovation policy’ appeared first on HEPI .
17 Jun 2026
Wellbeing report paints complex picture of economic progress and growing inequality
Negative indicators in the report include a rise in those experiencing difficulty making ends meet. Photograph: iStock
17 Jun 2026
Harry Kane scores twice as England make winning start to World Cup bid
Thomas Tuchel’s side beat Croatia 4-2 in Group L.
17 Jun 2026
Law intended to allow people work until 66th birthday to come into effect on June 29th
The new rules require that employees inform their employer of their intention not to retire at least three months but no more than a year in advance of their scheduled retirement age. Photograph: Getty Images
17 Jun 2026
PSNI release images of men it wishes to speak to in connection with Belfast riots
“If this is you, we are asking you to come forward to police now,” the PSNI said in a statement.
17 Jun 2026
Here's What Happened Today: Wednesday
The most important Irish and international stories you need to know today.
17 Jun 2026
Man charged over alleged Galway mosque plot claims he can't get fair trial due to law's wording
The High Court has reserved its judgment in the case.
17 Jun 2026
TDs to vote on whether 3-day wait for women seeking abortion should be scrapped
The Sinn Féin bill has united both government and opposition TDs on what has historically been a divisive topic.
17 Jun 2026
Portugal held to draw by DR Congo in their World Cup opener
DR Congo earned their first-ever World Cup point.
17 Jun 2026
Bill Kenneally survivors welcome move to consider law on misconduct in public office
Abuse survivor Jason Clancy welcomed a positive meeting with the Minister for Justice. Photograph: Patrick Browne
17 Jun 2026
South Co Dublin mansion sold for €15.5m in most valuable property sale of 2026
Inniscorrig, Coliemore Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin
17 Jun 2026
Varadkar says he got hate speech legislation wrong, would have been better to go after algorithms
The government dropped its proposed hate speech law in 2024 after significant pushback.
17 Jun 2026
Barry Daly murder trial hears evidence of ‘serious trauma’ to right side of jaw
Barry Daly (44) died of cardio-respiratory arrest due to severe facial and head trauma complicated by aspiration and blood, trial hears
17 Jun 2026
Leaving Cert accounting: Paper adds up for diligent students
Teachers praise fair but demanding Leaving Cert accounting paper. Illustration: Paul Scott
17 Jun 2026
Stars and Swipes: New York is having a moment. The Big Apple is back
A long-awaited Knicks championship and the energy of its new mayor Mamdani have unleashed a wave of civic joy across New York.
17 Jun 2026
Guidance: What a gangmaster's licence is and who needs one
Guidance for people who provide and use labour in the agriculture, horticulture, shellfish, and food processing and packaging sectors.
17 Jun 2026
Leaving Cert physics: Tricky questions offset by choice on higher-level paper
The higher-level physics paper had some tricky and wordy parts, and some of the questions required a lot of reading. Illustration: Paul Scott
17 Jun 2026
Galway Ring Road facing several High Court challenges to planners’ approval
The route of the proposed 18km N6 Galway Ring Road
17 Jun 2026
Hundreds of criminal cases adjourned as solicitors withdraw services in legal aid row
The Four Courts. The solicitors' action continues on Thursday and Friday, and looks set to intensify next week, in a dispute over the Department of Justice’s proposed new payments model for criminal legal aid cases in the District Courts. Photograph: Getty Images/iStockphoto
17 Jun 2026
Panel to rule on Friday over Enoch Burke's efforts to remove members of fitness-to-teach inquiry
Mr Burke had called on Andy Pike to recuse himself from chairing the inquiry on grounds of objective bias.
17 Jun 2026
Acumen acquires EduCorePro to boost AI-driven enrolment transformation
The deal brings EduCorePro’s technology platform, products, and specialist AI team into Acumen’s global admissions and enrolment services division, strengthening the company’s ability to deliver faster, more accurate and more scalable enrolment outcomes for higher education institutions worldwide. As part of the transaction, EduCorePro founder and CEO Bhushan Samant will join Acumen as chief technology officer of its admissions and enrolment services division, where he will lead the integration of AI capabilities into the company’s global operations. Acumen said the combined organisation will integrate EduCorePro’s automation and AI tools with its own human-led admissions expertise to build a next-generation enrolment platform. Acumen said the acquisition comes as institutions are under pressure to improve “compliance, application quality, fraud detection, visa credibility, operational efficiency and conversion performance,” while also managing increasing demand for faster decision-making and improved applicant experience. EduCorePro’s existing platform focuses on AI-powered tools designed to streamline admissions workflows, including document handling, applicant engagement, operational reporting and enrolment intelligence. Acumen said these capabilities will help universities improve application turnaround times, engagement and conversion efficiency. The company also highlighted broader sector challenges driving the need for automation, noting that universities are operating under “growing application volumes and heightened student expectations around speed, responsiveness and user experience.”. “International student recruitment and admissions is entering a period of profound operational change,” said Adrian Mutton, executive chairman, Acumen. Universities are increasingly being challenged to improve compliance oversight, identify and prioritise high-quality applicants more effectively, strengthen fraud detection processes, improve applicant response times and deliver a significantly better student experience — all while operating within tighter financial and operational constraints Adrian Mutton, Acumen “Universities are increasingly being challenged to improve compliance oversight, identify and prioritise high-quality applicants more effectively, strengthen fraud detection processes, improve applicant response times and deliver a significantly better student experience — all while operating within tighter financial and operational constraints.” The combined business will focus on AI-enabled tools including application triaging, fraud detection support, workflow automation, predictive enrolment intelligence and scalable admissions management systems. Commenting on the deal, Samant described Acumen as the “ideal organisation” for EduCorePro to partner with. “Together, we have an opportunity to fundamentally improve how institutions manage recruitment, admissions and enrolment operations through the intelligent and responsible application of AI technologies,” Samant added. The post Acumen acquires EduCorePro to boost AI-driven enrolment transformation appeared first on The PIE News .
17 Jun 2026
Classroom to College: Two weeks into Leaving Cert 2026 and the finish line is in sight
Classroom to college widget letterbox wide
17 Jun 2026
More GAA+ aggro and the most exciting football weekend of the year
Declan Bogue and Fintan O’Toole join Ronan Early to look ahead to a truly exciting round of knockout football.
17 Jun 2026
US tourist who killed mother of two while driving rental car gets suspended sentence
A US tourist who killed a woman after accelerating her electric minivan instead of hitting the brake has been given a six-month suspended sentence
17 Jun 2026
For whom the blood flows: Metallica encourage Irish fans to donate ahead of their Irish gigs
The bad plays two gigs in Dublin on 19 and 21 June.
17 Jun 2026
Local areas prepare new Experts at Hand teams
Local areas to begin increasing access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists from September 2026.
17 Jun 2026
Local areas prepare new Experts at Hand teams
Local areas to begin increasing access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists from September 2026.
17 Jun 2026
Local areas prepare new Experts at Hand teams
Local areas to begin increasing access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists from September 2026.
17 Jun 2026
Local areas prepare new Experts at Hand teams
Local areas to begin increasing access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists from September 2026.
17 Jun 2026
Permission for 104-unit apartment complex quashed over lack of playground
The Fingal County Development Plan provides for the inclusion of playground facilities in residential developments exceeding 50 units. Photograph: Getty
17 Jun 2026
Girl (10) who sued HSE over circumstances of birth agrees €3.25m interim settlement
Christine and Ruairí McGrath, parents of Olivia McGrath, who settled their case at the Four Courts on Wednesday. Photograph: Collins Courts
17 Jun 2026
Minister 'can't pass the blame' for new social homes switched to private market, Ó Broin says
Housing Minister James Browne said Carlow County Council must “get a pathway to building these homes as quickly as possible”.
17 Jun 2026
The 5 at 5: Wednesday
Five minutes, five stories, five o’clock…
17 Jun 2026
Revealed: The 99 winners of silver Pearson National Teaching Awards
Heads, teachers, support staff and schools recognised in annual awards The post Revealed: The 99 winners of silver Pearson National Teaching Awards first appeared on Schools Week .
17 Jun 2026
Revealed: The 99 winners of silver Pearson National Teaching Awards
Teachers, leaders and support staff recognised in annual awards The post Revealed: The 99 winners of silver Pearson National Teaching Awards first appeared on FE Week .
17 Jun 2026
“More of the right people”: diplomats walk a tightrope on UK-India student migration
Ben Moller, Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner to India, opened with a positive case for the bilateral relationship at the Cambridge India Business Dialogue late last month. Pointing to UK campus expansions across India and noting that British-educated Indians were statistically more likely to invest in the UK, he framed student mobility as a long-term economic pipeline, a theme echoed by fellow speakers Lord Karan Bilimoria and ICICI Bank CEO Raghav Singhal. But that warmth existed alongside an insistence on separating “legal” from “illegal” migration. The UK processes “a huge number of visas” from India, he said, and while “legal migration is fantastic and promotes growth,” both governments were working closely together on irregular arrivals. He drew an explicit line: “More of the right people and less of the wrong people.” It’s a framing that sits uneasily alongside a 30% fall in UK study visa applications in Q1 2026 and a sector asking which signals to believe. When I questioned him on whether that framing was producing unintended consequences for international students, specifically the political discourse around the Graduate Route visa, his response was measured. “We are trying to find the right balance,” he said, acknowledging a brief dip in visa numbers following the change in government, but arguing the UK was still successfully attracting students. Migration, he added, “is a very important part of the political discourse and rightly so”. It was a careful answer. Whether it was a sufficient one is harder to say. The numbers tell a more turbulent story Figures reported by The PIE News showed Indian students falling from nearly 140,000 in 2022/23 to 111,329 in 2023/24, a decline of over 20%. A partial recovery followed, with a 31% increase in Indian student visa grants in Q1 2025 year-on-year, but a Q4 2025 grant rate of 85% complicate any claim of stability. Germany, Australia, and New Zealand have all recorded rising Indian student interest in the same period. The Graduate Route sits at the centre of this volatility. Its reintroduction in 2021 drove the surge in Indian enrolments that saw Indian students overtake Chinese nationals as the UK’s largest international cohort. The 2025 immigration white paper proposed cutting its duration from two years to 18 months, a change confirmed in March 2026 and effective from January 2027. HEPI has flagged this as a primary concern, noting that post-study work rights are a significant driver of where students choose to study. Indian nationals still received 95,231 sponsored study visas in the year ending December 2025, 23% of the total, and led Graduate Route extensions with 90,153 granted. The pipeline is real. The question is whether policy is working with or against it. India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Periasamy Kumaran, added that overt activism in the field of student immigration advocacy risked producing further backlash, and that the balance would sort itself out as part of a natural cycle, the UK’s need for innovation would inevitably pull Indian students back in. The logic has some basis, but it sets aside the burden students carry in the meantime. A prospective master’s student from Chennai weighing a September 2026 application cannot wait for market equilibrium. She is already factoring in a shorter Graduate Route, higher maintenance fund requirements, rising tuition fees, and a securitised political climate. Diplomacy and the binary problem Moller’s distinction between legal and illegal migration is reasonable as far as it goes. Irregular migration routes, small boat crossings, fraudulent documentation, visa overstays – all of them represent a genuine policy challenge, and governments have a legitimate interest in addressing them. But the language of “right” and “wrong” people carries implications that often leads to conflation in public discourse. The language of “right” and “wrong” people carries implications that often leads to conflation in public discourse Asylum seekers, refugees, and those arriving via refugee family reunion routes made up around 16% of total UK immigration in 2025. Of the 100,625 people who claimed asylum that year, approximately 39% had arrived legally before making a claim. The top nationalities claiming asylum via small boat crossings are predominantly people fleeing documented conflict, whose claims sit squarely within the Refugee Convention. An Eritrean escaping conscription into an authoritarian military who crosses the Channel in a dinghy is, under this framing, a “wrong” kind of arrival. The binary does not accommodate these cases cleanly and immigration systems, by their nature, are full of them. The problem is not that the legal-illegal distinction is wrong. It is that once “right” and “wrong” enter the political discourse, they don’t stay calibrated. They travel into tabloid coverage, into the perceptions of parents and agents in Mumbai and Chennai, and into the enrolment decisions of students who register tone as readily as policy. The 2023 dependant ban illustrates this: aimed at misuse of the student route, it collapsed the dependant-to-student ratio from six per 20 to one per 20 by September 2025, with documented collateral effects on legitimate student enrolment. The wider picture for UK higher education is not comfortable. Postgraduate enrolments are falling; English universities face a proposed £925-per-student levy ; and a sector positioned as both economic export and soft-power instrument of the UK-India relationship is asking which set of signals represents the real policy direction. The UK-India CETA, signed in July 2025 and projected to add £25.5 billion annually to bilateral trade, represents a genuine commitment. So does the expanding network of UK campuses opening across India. The relationship has rarely looked stronger on paper, and there is an appetite on both sides to keep building it. Whether the balance Moller described can be found and what it costs in the meantime for students remains unanswered. The post “More of the right people”: diplomats walk a tightrope on UK-India student migration appeared first on The PIE News .
17 Jun 2026
Plan to remove 29 Brittas dwellings without permission ‘completely inadequate’, court told
An aerial view of some of the modular homes on a site in Brittas, Co Dublin.
17 Jun 2026
Child psychotherapist warns of the rise of loneliness among young adults
Dr Colman Noctor said the overall findings from 20 years of research from the Growing Up in Ireland study show the importance of connection and community for children – two things he said are increasingly eroding in Ireland.
17 Jun 2026
Quiz: How much do you know about Game of Thrones?
Put your knowledge to the test in this week’s Best of the Box quiz.
17 Jun 2026
Parnell Square trial: Riad Bouchaker’s defence tells trial he may have been trying to terrify but not stab
Riad Bouchaker (52), of no fixed address, is on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with the attempted murder of two girls and one boy, and assault causing serious harm to creche worker Leanne Flynn, at Parnell Square East in Dublin city on November 23rd, 2023. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
17 Jun 2026
Ringfencing post-16 SEND funding not ‘right approach’, says DfE
Government rejects separate dedicated funding stream for SEND in further education The post Ringfencing post-16 SEND funding not ‘right approach’, says DfE first appeared on FE Week .
17 Jun 2026
Teacher misconduct: attend a professional conduct panel hearing or meeting
Forthcoming professional conduct panel hearings and meetings and how to attend a hearing as an observer.
17 Jun 2026
Help and support for colleges
Information about the range of help and support available from the Further Education Commissioner, Department for Education and delivery partners.
17 Jun 2026
Help and support for colleges
Information about the range of help and support available from the Further Education Commissioner, Department for Education and delivery partners.
17 Jun 2026
Help and support for colleges
Information about the range of help and support available from the Further Education Commissioner, Department for Education and delivery partners.
17 Jun 2026
Help and support for colleges
Information about the range of help and support available from the Further Education Commissioner, Department for Education and delivery partners.
17 Jun 2026
Had trouble getting home from an outdoor gig in Dublin this summer? We want to hear from you.
The issue of crap public transport in Dublin is back in the news yet again.
17 Jun 2026
‘I was the forklift’, man tells judge in claim over back injury
Natu Daniel Rus (41), a general operative with Iron Mountain Limited in its warehouse at Damastown Industrial Estate, Dublin, told the court he had never been trained by Iron Mountain in the proper way of lifting heavy boxes.
17 Jun 2026
Explainer: Why is government supporting a Sinn Féin bill on abortion and will it pass?
It’s pretty rare for the government to back an opposition bill, but it’s even more unusual when it’s on the issue of abortion.
17 Jun 2026
Current DWP research being undertaken by external organisations
Check a list of live research being conducted by research organisations for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
17 Jun 2026
Witnesses tell Riad Bouchaker trial they saw him stabbing children during Parnell Square attack
Riad Bouchaker has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of three children and assault causing serious harm to crèche worker.
17 Jun 2026
Oldest strains of plague caused deadly outbreaks 5,500 years ago
Oldest strains of plague caused deadly outbreaks 5,500 years ago Jacqueline Garget Wed, 06/17/2026 - 16:00 Plague is commonly associated with rats, crowded medieval cities, and the epidemics that swept across Europe during and after the Middle Ages. But a new study published today in the journal Nature shows that the disease was already lethal 5,500 years ago, when it killed humans in small, mobile hunter-gatherer communities - long before the rise of agriculture and cities created the conditions usually associated with plague epidemics. An international group of researchers analysed ancient DNA from human remains found at four hunter-gatherer cemeteries in the Lake Baikal region of East Siberia. Using advanced DNA sequencing techniques, the researchers reconstructed ancient bacterial genomes preserved in teeth, revealing previously unknown early strains of plague. “Based on the plague DNA, the genetic relationships between the victims, the archaeological analysis and the radiocarbon dating, we’ve built a really clear, complete picture of what happened during these outbreaks,” said Dr Ruairidh Macleod, who conducted the research at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, and is first author of the study. The study combines genetic, archaeological and radiocarbon evidence to reconstruct how the outbreaks unfolded within the prehistoric groups. “Whether the earliest forms of plague were mild or virulent has been a matter of debate, but our findings demonstrate that these ancient strains were already highly lethal,” said Professor Eske Willerslev, at the University of Cambridge's Department of Genetics and the University of Copenhagen, who led the research. In total, DNA from Yersinia pestis - the bacterium that causes plague - was detected in 40 percent of individuals (18 of 46). This is higher than the detection rate reported from some medieval plague pits. A more lethal disease than previously thought Previous studies showed that early strains of Yersinia pestis lacked some of the genetic traits that later enabled bubonic plague to spread efficiently via fleas and rodent hosts. This led many researchers to believe that the earliest forms of plague were unlikely to have caused major outbreaks. However, the new study challenges that assumption. The mortality profiles at the two largest cemeteries show an exceptionally high number of children and young teenagers among the dead – something that has puzzled archaeologists working on the graves for decades. “The unusually high number of children and the short time-span was a real puzzle that we’ve been trying to solve since the 1990s. Finding out that plague was the cause is extraordinary, but it makes so much sense,” said archaeologist Andrzej Weber of the University of Alberta, Principal Investigator of the Baikal Archaeology Project. Radiocarbon dating showed that many of the burials occurred within a very short time span. In several cases, siblings or parents and children appear to have died and been buried together. Did extreme immune responses cause death? The ancient plague strains also carried a unique superantigen – a toxin-producing genetic factor not seen in historic plague strains. Superantigens can trigger extreme immune responses and are associated with severe inflammatory complications, likely increasing the severity of infection. “This finding changes our understanding of the earliest plague outbreaks: even before the bacterium evolved efficient flea-borne transmission, these ancient strains appear to have carried a potent combination of virulence factors that could make infection highly lethal,” said senior author Martin Sikora, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. Together, the findings suggest that the earliest known plague outbreaks may already have been as deadly as later historical forms of the disease, especially for children, even without flea-borne transmission. The study also supports the idea that plague may have originated in Central or North-East Asia before later spreading across Eurasia through wild rodent reservoirs. Archaeological evidence suggests these hunter-gatherers interacted closely with marmots – large burrowing rodents that still carry plague today – and researchers believe the outbreaks may have spread directly from infected marmots into humans. Reference: Macleod, R. et al: ‘ Lethal Plague Outbreaks in Lake Baikal Hunter-Gatherers 5500 Years Ago .’ Nature, June 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10540-5 Adapted from a press release by the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. Based on the plague DNA... we’ve built a really clear, complete picture of what happened during these outbreaks. Ruairidh Macleod Vladimiri_Bazaliiskii Yes Licence type Attribution-Noncommerical
17 Jun 2026
Transparency data: Open academies, free schools, studio schools and UTCs
Information on all academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs) open in England, and those in the process of opening.
17 Jun 2026
Transparency data: Open academies, free schools, studio schools and UTCs
Information on all academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs) open in England, and those in the process of opening.
17 Jun 2026