NIRF 2025: Gujarat institutes making in top 100 overall category reduces to one, ranking slips too from previous year positions

IIMA director Prof Bharat Bhasker said, “At IIMA, we remain committed to nurturing management leaders and innovators who can address the challenges of a rapidly changing world. It is a matter of great pride for us to be recognised as the best management institute in India for the sixth consecutive year by the Ministry of Education’s NIRF 2025 rankings. Our strong focus on research and innovation continues to shape new ideas and solutions that influence both academia and industry, while reinforcing IIMA’s role as a thought leader in management education.”

Meanwhile, breaking the last five years’ record, Gujarat University — which previously has been the only public university from the state that was in the top 100 in the overall category since 2020 — could not make it to the top 100 this year.

However, this year, GU was the only university in the state that was among the top 100 universities, as per the rankings — securing the 74th position against last year’s 76th in the category.

Talking to The Indian Express, GU Vice-Chancellor Neerja Gupta said, “It is a challenge to compete with technical institutes as the outcome can be measured in engineering, medical and other technical fields. However, GU gave a very good performance as we have surpassed in several parameters — beating previous years’ low — including research. Our score in certain sections is close to the score of top institutes. We have been doing very well in consultancy too. We will prepare for the next year based on the parameters.”

The list of top 100 management institutes had IIMA at rank 1, MICA Ahmedabad at 33, Nirma University Ahmedabad at 53, Institute of Rural Management Anand at 54 and Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) Gandhinagar at 89.

Among the top 100 engineering institutes were IITGN at 25, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology Surat at 66th against last year’s 59, and PDEU at 98. Last year, only IITGN and SVNIT could make it to this list.

In the category of law institutes, Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) Gandhinagar leaped from last year’s 8th rank to the 5th position this year. Nirma University, which failed to secure a position in the top 100 in this category last year, secured the 33rd position this time.

Prof S Shanthakumar, Director, GNLU, said: “This achievement reflects GNLU’s comprehensive approach to legal education, combining rigorous academics with practical training, cutting-edge research, and strong industry partnerships. The university’s commitment to fostering intellectual growth while preparing students for leadership roles in the legal profession has been instrumental in this success. We will build upon this momentum with renewed energy and unwavering dedication to academic and research excellence.”

CEPT University Ahmedabad maintains its 6th rank in the architecture and planning category. “CEPT University is proud to rank 6th. (It is) the only private university and the only university from Gujarat that is in the top 10 institutes in NIRF 2025 in the Architecture and Planning category. This recognition underscores our steadfast commitment to excellence in education, research, and practice. We are grateful for the recognition as the Center of Excellence, Government of Gujarat, which enables us to continually push for higher quality of education. We congratulate our peer institutions featured in this year’s rankings for their valuable contributions to higher education,” Prof Barjor Mehta, President, CEPT University, stated.

MICA Dean Prof Githa Heggde said, “MICA continues to feature among the top 10 private Institutions in the Management category. This in spite of its distinct nature of imparting excellence in a unique blend of ‘creativity, customer, communication, culture and community’ unlike a conventional management school. This is a testament to being future-proof.”

This year, no college could again make it to the NIRF rankings’ top 100 lists.