New Delhi: An overwhelming majority of students, faculty, alumni and parents in India feel safe and included on campus, and mental-health services are widely available and increasingly used. At the same time, academic pressure remains the single largest source of stress across educational levels, signalling the next frontier for institutional well-being reforms.
These twin findings lie at the heart of the Institution of Happiness (IOH) 2025-26 Report, released by QS I-GAUGE, which presents one of the most comprehensive assessments of happiness and well-being in Indian educational institutions.
The survey is based on responses from nearly 5.5 lakh stakeholders across 28 states and eight Union Territories, draws inputs from students, faculty, parents and alumni across higher education institutions and schools.
The data-driven report of how safe, supported and empowered members of educational communities feel, also highlights where systemic improvements are still needed.
Safety and Inclusion
Across all stakeholder groups, campus safety emerges as the most consistent and highly rated dimension of well-being. Among students in higher education, 92% report that they have never experienced or witnessed bullying or ragging, indicating that overt harmful behaviours are now relatively rare. This suggests that anti-ragging policies, disciplinary structures and awareness campaigns have had a sustained impact on student conduct and peer norms.
Perceptions of physical safety further reinforce this picture. Eighty-four per cent of students say they feel safe on campus, including while moving around in evening. Faculty confidence is even higher, with 95% reporting that they feel safe at work, while 90% of alumni recall feeling very safe during their time as students, pointing to long-term consistency.
At the school level, parental trust is particularly strong. Ninety-seven per cent of them feel their children are safe while travelling to and from school, and 93% express satisfaction with overall school safety, including supervision and emergency preparedness. Together, these findings position safety as a foundational strength of Indian educational institutions participating in the IOH initiative.
Closely linked to safety is the perception of inclusion. More than nine in ten faculty members describe their workplace as inclusive, while 84% of alumni and 94% of parents say campuses foster respectful and welcoming environments. These results suggest that diversity, fairness and respectful behaviour are not peripheral values but are increasingly embedded into everyday institutional culture.
Feeling Valued, Recognized
Beyond physical security, the report highlights the importance of psychological safety and recognition. Among higher-education students, 80% say they feel respected and valued, and 76% believe their academic and extracurricular efforts are recognized. Faculty responses are similarly positive, with 83% feeling recognized for their contributions and 80% believing institutional decision-making is fair.
However, the data also reveals limits to this sense of empowerment. Only 70% of students feel their opinions are genuinely heard, suggesting that while feedback mechanisms exist, they do not yet translate into a universal experience of voice or influence. Peer-level emotional support also appears uneven, with just over half of students reporting that they receive encouragement from peers during difficult times.
These gaps indicate that while formal recognition systems and leadership practices are functioning reasonably well, informal cultures of listening, peer solidarity and participatory engagement still require strengthening.
Stress, Mental Health
Mental health emerges as the most complex theme in the IOH 2025-26 findings. On one hand, availability and visibility of mental-health services are high. Among alumni, 92% report that mental-health resources were available on campus, and 61% actually used these services, demonstrating that support systems were not merely symbolic but meaningfully accessed.
Among current students, 67% rate emotional and mental-health support as excellent, while 56% of school students and over half of higher-education students describe institutional emotional support positively. Parents largely share this view, with 85% expressing satisfaction with emotional support services and 91% believing their children feel mentally and emotionally well at school.
Yet, despite this infrastructure, stress remains widespread. Fifty-six per cent of higher-education students experience stress sometimes or often, and 51% of school students report stress during their school experience. Crucially, academic workload and pressure are identified as the primary cause of stress by a majority of students, indicating that emotional distress is less about personal vulnerability and more about systemic academic demands.
Faculty well-being reflects a similar tension. While 72% feel comfortable discussing stress with management and 71% report a good work-life balance, nearly one-third do not share this comfort, pointing to the need for more structured, confidential and proactive support mechanisms.
Infrastructure, Support Services
The report also underscores the role of physical and administrative infrastructure in shaping daily well-being. Seventy-eight per cent students rate campus facilities as good, and 77% find institutional support services very helpful, including academic advising and administrative assistance. Faculty feedback aligns with this assessment, with 88% satisfied with workplace facilities and a strong majority reporting effective collaboration with colleagues.
Parents further reinforce these findings, expressing high satisfaction with communication, counselling collaboration and extracurricular balance. Together, these results suggest that operational systems and facilities are broadly effective, providing a stable platform on which well-being initiatives can function.
Career Preparation
One of the strongest endorsements of institutional effectiveness comes from alumni outcomes. Eighty-one per cent of alumni say their education prepared them very well for their careers, while 83% recall the availability of internships and 77% report high satisfaction with post-graduation career support. These findings indicate that curricular design and institutional support translate into tangible professional benefits over time.
However, among current students, confidence is more tentative. Only 52% feel very prepared for future education or careers, suggesting that while outcomes may be strong in retrospect, students often do not fully recognize or feel prepared for these benefits while still enrolled.
Taken together, the IOH 2025-26 findings depict an education sector that has largely succeeded in making campuses safer, more inclusive and better supported, but now faces the more difficult task of reducing stress without compromising academic rigour. The data suggests that the next phase of institutional well-being will depend not on building more services, but on rebalancing expectations, strengthening voice and fostering everyday cultures of care across Indian education.