What is NIRF Ranking? Is it relevant?

What is NIRF?

National Institute Ranking Framework or NIRF is the first-ever effort by the Central Government to rank Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the country. Before NIRF’s launch in 2016, HEIs were usually ranked by private entities, especially news magazines. While participation in the NIRF was voluntary in the initial years, it was made compulsory for all government-run educational institutions in 2018. In 2023, 8686 institutions have participated in NIRF. Number of categories and subject domains have increased from 4 in 2016 to 13 in 2023. Agriculture & Allied Sectors and Innovation are two verticals added to the ranking exercise from 2023 onward.

Regionwise participation of Institutions in 2023 Rankings:

Parameters of Assessment?

In order to be ranked, all education institutions are assessed on five parameters:

Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR)

• Student Strength including Doctoral Students (SS)
• Faculty-student ratio with emphasis on permanent faculty (FSR)
• Combined metric for Faculty with PhD (or equivalent) and Experience (FQE)
• Financial Resources and their Utilisation (FRU)

Research and Professional Practice (RP)

• Combined metric for Publications (PU)
• Combined metric for Quality of Publications (QP)
• IPR and Patents: Published and Granted (IPR)
• Footprint of Projects and Professional Practice (FPPP)

Graduation Outcomes (GO)

• Metric for University Examinations (GUE)
• Metric for Number of Ph.D. Students Graduated (GPHD)

Outreach and Inclusivity (OI)

• Percentage of Students from Other States/Countries (Region Diversity RD)
• Percentage of Women (Women Diversity WD)
• Economically and Socially Challenged Students (ESCS)
• Facilities for Physically Challenged Students (PCS)
• Perception (PR) Ranking

Peer Perception

• Academic Peers and Employers (PR)

Ranking Categories: 

NIRF lists out best institutions across 13 categories

1. Overall National Ranking
2. Universities
3. Engineering
4. College
5. Medical
6. Management
7. Pharmacy
8. Law
9. Architecture
10. Dental
11. Research
12. Agriculture & Allied
13. Innovation

Is NIRF Ranking relevant?

Yes of course this is a brilliant step to help students compare colleges/universities. Though it is limited to top colleges and select streams as of now; still it does provide tremendous help. In the era of college rankings by news magazines, there were so many inaccuracies and illogical colleges popping out in top ranks. Any naive student can fall into their trap and end up spending huge monies in an underserving  college.

How to use these rankings?

As a student you should look at these rankings and study the report in detail for shortlisted universities. Comparision with top and similar ranked colleges would also provide some invaluable insights. If your college doesn’t ranks in this list, then check if the University it is affiliated to figures in the list. If nothing else it gives us a scientific framework to compare colleges and also tells us what to look forward in one’s college/University.