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Academic stress refers to stress associated with the demands of education, including meeting academic requirements, pressure to perform, and anxiety about grades and assessments. This literature review will provide an overview of research on academic stress in higher education. It will begin with an explanation of stress and a discussion of models and theories that have been used to understand academic stress. The review will then summarize key findings from empirical studies on the sources and effects of academic stress and the factors that influence experiences of academic stress among university students. It will also review research on interventions and coping strategies used to manage academic stress. Academic stress is a significant issue negatively impacting the wellbeing, performance, and persistence of students in Indian higher education. Research indicates high levels of academic stressors related to factors like heavy workload, competition, exams pressure, parental pressures, lack of resources, and challenges adjusting to university life. Studies have linked academic stress to concerning effects including psychological distress, physical health problems, social isolation, poor academic satisfaction and achievement, and increased likelihood of dropout. In view of its detrimental impacts, developing effective interventions to help students manage academic stress represents an important priority. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) has potential as a strategy to reduce academic stress and promote adaptive coping. REBT focuses on identifying and modifying irrational beliefs that contribute to dysfunctional emotions/behaviors. Techniques include cognitive restructuring, disputation of irrational beliefs, and exercises like ABC analysis and rational self-dialogues. REBT has been applied in educational settings to target academic stress and outcomes like test anxiety and poor performance. Meta-analyses provide evidence that REBT effectively decreases academic stress and improves coping and achievement for students. A few studies conducted in India have demonstrated REBT can reduce academic stress, anxiety, perfectionism and dropout intentions while improving exam performance of school and university students. However, research explicitly testing effects of REBT programs for Indian university students remains limited. Existing studies exploring REBT for academic stress among Indian university students have notable limitations restricting strong conclusions about efficacy, acceptability, and generalizability. Limitations include small samples at single institutes, lack of controlled designs, minimal follow-up, insufficient consideration of cultural factors, and overrepresentation of certain groups like medical students. More rigorous research is critically needed to strengthen the evidence base around using REBT to address academic stress for diverse Indian university students.