National Institutional Ranking Framework
CategoriesHigher education
FrequencyAnnual
PublisherMinistry of Education
First issue2016
CountryIndia
Websitenirfindia.org

National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a ranking methodology adopted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, to rank institutions of higher education in India. The framework was approved by the former Ministry of Human Resource Development (now the Ministry of Education) and launched by the Minister on 29 September 2015.[1]

Depending on their areas of operation, institutions have been ranked under 11 different categories – overall, university, colleges, engineering, management, pharmacy, law, medical, architecture, dental and research.[2] The Framework uses several parameters for ranking purposes like resources, research, and stakeholder perception. These parameters have been grouped into five clusters and these clusters were assigned certain weights. These weights depend on the type of institution. About 3500 institutions voluntarily participated in the first round of rankings.[3]

NIRF was allotted a budget of ₹3 crore (US$380,000)[4] for 2021–22.

The rankings have been heavily criticized as an attempt to manipulate students, companies and general public.[5][6][7] In spite of these criticisms, the government has done little to modify the methodologies or results of the rankings.

Background

The 2017 rankings were released by MHRD on 3 April 2017.[8] While in its first rankings released in 2016, NIRF had four categories (Universities, Engineering, Management and Pharmacy), in 2017, two more categories namely, Overall and College, were added. Around 3,000 institutions participated in the rankings.[9]

On April 3, 2018, the 2018 NIRF rankings were released with an increased number of participating institutions over the previous year.[10]

The 2019 NIRF ranking was released on April 8, 2019 in 9 categories: Overall, Universities, Engineering, Colleges, Management, Pharmacy, Medical, Architecture, and Law.[11]

For the 2020 rankings, around 3,800 institutions participated in the process, a 20% increase over 2019.[12] The 2020 ranked lists were released by MHRD on June 11, 2020. For the first time, dental institutes were placed in a new category.[13]

Formation

MHRD organized a one-day workshop on 21 August 2014 on evolving methodologies for the ranking of institutions of higher education in India. The meeting resolved to establish a committee for building a national ranking framework. Later it was also decided to appoint representatives of central universities for the proposed committee. Based on these decisions, a core committee consisting of 16 members was constituted on 29 October 2014 with secretary (HE, MHRD, as chairperson and additional secretary (TE), MHRD, as member-secretary. The other members were the vice-chancellors of Delhi University, EFL University, Central University of Gujarat and JNU, the directors of the IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, NIT Tiruchirappalli, NIT Warangal, IIIT&M Gwalior, IISER Bhopal, SPA Delhi, NAAC, and chairperson of NBA.[14]

The terms of reference of the committee were:

  • Suggest a National Framework for performance measurement and ranking of
  1. Institutions;
  2. Programmes;
  • Suggest the organizational structure, institutional mechanism and processes for implementation along with time-lines of the National Ranking Framework.
  1. Suggest a mechanism for financing of the Scheme on National Ranking Framework.
  2. Suggest linkages with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Board of Accreditation (NBA), if any.

The core committee identified a set of measurable parameters to be used as metrics for ranking the institutions. These parameters were grouped into five major headings. The committee suggested the weightages to be assigned to various groups of parameters in the case of institutions of engineering education and left the task of carrying out similar exercises for institutions of other disciplines to other competent agencies. The initial draft of the report was prepared by Surendra Prasad, chairman, National Board of Accreditation and Member of the core committee.

The University Grants Commission constituted an expert committee on 9 October 2015 to develop a framework for the ranking of universities and colleges in India and the framework developed by this expert committee has been incorporated into NIRF.[15] The core committee also suggested a framework for ranking institutions offering management education also.[16] The All India Council for Technical Education developed parameters and metrics for ranking institutions offering pharmacy education[17] and also architecture education.[18]

Recommendations of the core committee

The following are some of the recommendations of the core committee:[14]

  • The metrics for ranking of engineering institutions should be based on the parameters agreed upon by the core committee.
  • The parameters have been organized into five broad heads or groups and each group has been divided into suitable sub-groups. Each broad head has an overall weight assigned to it. Within each head, the sub-heads should also have appropriate weight distributions.
  • A suitable metric has been proposed which computes a score under each sub-head. The sub-head scores are then added to obtain scores for each individual head. The overall score is computed-based on the weights allotted to each head. The overall score can take a maximum value of 100.
  • The committee recommended the classification of institutions into two categories:
  • Category A institutions: These are institutions of national importance set up by Acts of Parliament, State Universities, Deemed-to-be Universities, Private Universities and other autonomous institutions.
  • Category B institutions: These are institutions affiliated to a University and do not enjoy full academic autonomy.

Parameters and their weightages

Engineering, management, pharmacy and architecture institutions

The approved set of parameter groups and the weightages assigned to them in respect of institutions offering programmes in engineering, management, pharmacy and architecture are given in the following table.

Parameters Category A
institutions		Category B
institutions
Teaching, learning and resources (TLR)0.300.30
Research, professional practice and collaborative performance (RPC)0.300.20
Graduation outcome (GO)0.150.25
Outreach and inclusivity (OI)0.150.15
Perception (PR)0.100.10

Overall and colleges

The approved set of parameter groups and the weightages assigned to them in respect of overall rating and for colleges are given in the following table, for 2018.

ParametersOverall[19]Colleges[20]
Teaching, learning and resources (TLR)0.300.40
Research, productivity, impact and IPR (RPII)0.300.15
Graduation outcome (GO)0.200.25
Outreach and inclusivity (OI)0.100.10
Perception (PR)0.100.10

Latest Ranking - 2023

Overall (Top 10)[21]
Rank Name City State/UT
1 Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai Tamil Nadu
2 Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru Karnataka
3 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi New Delhi Delhi
4 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Mumbai Maharashtra
5 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Kanpur Uttar Pradesh
6 All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi New Delhi Delhi
7 Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur West Bengal
8 Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee Uttarakhand
9 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Guwahati Assam
10 Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi Delhi
Universities (Top 10)[22]
Rank Name City State
1 Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru Karnataka
2 Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi Delhi
3 Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi Delhi
4 Jadavpur University Kolkata West Bengal
5 Banaras Hindu University Varanasi Uttar Pradesh
6 Manipal Academy of Higher Education-Manipal Manipal Karnataka
7 Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Coimbatore Tamil Nadu
8 Vellore Institute of Technology Vellore Tamil Nadu
9 Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Uttar Pradesh
10 University of Hyderabad Hyderabad Telangana

Criticism

The list was criticised for being incomplete, incoherent and bordering on the random in 2017.[23] Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi raised objection on 2017 NIRF ranking, accusing it of being based on incomplete data.[24]

In 2021, Professor Anil Kumar Tripathi, director of the Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University criticised the NIRF University rankings, accusing it to compare institutions with same budget but varying number of students. He said that "IISc no doubt, is the top institution in the country. Banaras Hindu University (BHU), however, is a different kind of educational institution. Both institutions have almost the same budget but the same amount of money caters to a large number of students, teachers and infrastructure at BHU. In comparison to IISc the money available is about five to ten times lesser in our university because of the sheer size".[25]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Institutional Ranking Framework: Overview". MHRD, Government of India. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Dismal show of Haryana educational institutes in NIRF ranking". Hindustan Times. 10 September 2021. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "NIRF India Rankings 2018: IISc Bangalore overall best, AIIMS Delhi tops medical institutes' list - Times of India". The Times of India. 4 April 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "Department of Higher Education Budget Allocations 2021-22" (PDF). Ministry of Finance, Government of India. p. 89. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  5. ↑ Bajpai, G. S. (9 August 2022). "Rankings that make no sense". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  6. ↑ Tyagi, Akshat (7 April 2018). "The HRD'S NIRF Ranking of Colleges is Laughable & Ridiculous". TheQuint. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  7. ↑ "Three Charts Show What s Wrong With the NIRF University Rankings". thewire.in. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  8. ↑ "India Rankings 2016". National Institutional Ranking Framework. MHRD, Government of India. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "NIRF India Rankings 2018: IISc Bangalore overall best, AIIMS Delhi tops medical institutes' list - Times of India". The Times of India. 4 April 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  10. ↑ "NIRF India Rankings 2018: IISc Bangalore overall best, AIIMS Delhi tops medical institutes' list - Times of India". The Times of India. 4 April 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  11. ↑ "NIRF Rankings 2019: List of top 10 institutes from each category". India Today. 9 April 2019. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  12. ↑ "NIRF Rankings 2020, NIRF India Rankings 2020 Today: Live Updates". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  13. ↑ "NIRF Ranking 2020: IISc, JNU and BHU best universities in India, check the Top 25 list". The Indian Express. 11 June 2020. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  14. 1 2 National Institutional Ranking Framework: A Methodology for Ranking of Engineering Institutions in India (PDF). Department of Higher Education Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India. September 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  15. ↑ A Methodolog y for Ranking of Universities and Colleges in India (PDF). Department of Higher Education Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  16. ↑ A Methodology for Ranking of Management Institutions in India (PDF). Department of Higher Education Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  17. ↑ A Methodology for Ranking of Pharmacy Institutions in India (PDF). All India Council for Technical Education. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  18. ↑ A Methodology for Ranking of Architecture Institutions (PDF). All India Council of Technical Education. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "Ranking Metrics for Overall" (PDF). nirfcdn.azureedge.net. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  20. ↑ "Ranking Metrics for Colleges" (PDF). nirfcdn.azureedge.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  21. ↑ "MoE, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)". www.nirfindia.org. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  22. ↑ "MoE, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)". www.nirfindia.org. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  23. ↑ "Three Charts Show What's Wrong With the NIRF University Rankings". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  24. ↑ "IIT BHU raises objection on NIRF ranking 2017, says list based on 'incomplete data'". The Indian Express. 19 April 2017. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  25. ↑ "NIRF Ranking 2021: Can't compare IITs, IISc with BHU, says BHU director". news.careers360.com. 11 September 2021. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
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