Patna: The Ministry of Education has released the new National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list for higher educational institutions in India. This year, the rankings have been announced in 17 categories, with the addition of a new category on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The ranking is considered one of the most important measures of performance for universities and colleges across the country.
At the top, there has been no change compared to last year. IIT Madras has once again secured the first position, followed by the Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru), IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur. These six institutions continue to dominate the list as India’s leading centres of higher learning. However, there has been some movement in the positions just below the top six. IIT Roorkee has moved up from eighth to seventh place, while AIIMS Delhi has slipped to eighth. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi has improved to ninth place, while Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi entered the top 10 by moving up from 11th place. IIT Guwahati, however, dropped from ninth to 11th and is now outside the top-10 list.
The biggest improvement this year has come from IIT Patna. Last year, it was placed at 73rd in the overall ranking, but this year it has jumped to 36th. This rise has been welcomed as a major achievement for Bihar’s only IIT and a sign that the institute is strengthening its teaching standards, research quality and academic environment. Among the second-generation IITs, Patna has become one of the best performers, which is seen as an important development for higher education in eastern India.
The NIRF rankings have been released across a wide range of categories. These include Overall, University, College, Research Institution, Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Medical, Dental, Law, Architecture and Planning, Agriculture and Allied Sectors, Innovation, Open University, Skill University, State Public University and the new SDG category. The government said that the purpose of expanding the categories is to give students and parents more clarity about the strengths of different institutions and to encourage healthy competition among them
