IIT-Madras tops NIRF rankings for 7th time; IISc-Bengaluru second

The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has retained the top position in the overall category of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the seventh consecutive year while the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bengaluru has been ranked second for the fifth time in a row.

The IITs, AIIMS-Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have dominated the top 10 spots in different categories in the 10th edition of the NIRF list, which was released by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday.

In the northern region, Panjab University (PU)-Chandigarh bagged the third position in both pharmacy and state public universities categories. Chandigarh University-Mohali has secured the 32nd position in the overall segment while PU has been put at 57th rank.

IIT-Madras has ranked first for the 10th year in a row in the engineering category.

In the universities category, IISc-Bengaluru has bagged the first rank for the seventh year in a row, followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University at the second position. BITS-Pilani entered the top-10 list this year, up from 19 in 2024. Among colleges, Delhi University’s Hindu College has ranked first, followed by Miranda House, which had topped the category in 2024. Hansraj College improved its ranking from 12 last year to third and Kirori Mal College from ninth to fourth. St Stephen’s College is down from the third position last year to fifth.

While IISc has again featured in the top list in the research institutions category, IIT-Madras has ranked first in the innovations institutions section.

The Education Ministry, for the first time, has also included a sustainable development goal (SDG) category. The SDGs are a set of 17 global objectives adopted by the UN in 2015 to address pressing challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental sustainability by 2030. IIT-Madras has topped the chart in the SDG category, followed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and Jamia Millia Islamia.

Jamia Hamdard has topped in the pharmacy category. IIM-Ahmedabad has retained the top position for the second year in the management category. IIM-Sambalpur has secured the 34th rank, marking a significant leap of 16 positions.

The National Law School of India University-Bengaluru has secured the top position in law studies, while AIIMS-Delhi has topped in the medical and dental categories.

“A cornerstone of the rankings has been its success in cultivating a culture of data governance within higher education institutions. Institutions now maintain comprehensive datasets on faculty strength, student enrolment, placement outcomes, infrastructure, research productivity, library and lab resources, and operational spending enabling internal bench marking and long-term strategic planning,” Education Minister Pradhan said.

The number of higher education institutions that participated in these rankings has witnessed remarkable growth, escalating from 3,565 in 2016 to an impressive 14,163 in 2025. The number of categories and subject domains has expanded from four in 2016 to 17 in 2025.