NIRF Rankings 2025: DU dominates list of colleges in Capital — Hindu again ranks first, Miranda follows

DU's Hindu College has once again secured the first position in the NIRF collegewise rankings, followed by Miranda House in the second place.

Written by Vidheesha Kuntamalla

New Delhi | September 5, 2025 06:13 AM IST

DU dominates list of colleges — Hindu again ranks first, Miranda, Hansraj follow

Ten of its colleges also make the list of top 20.

The University of Delhi has maintained its dominance in the colleges category in the tenth edition of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings with its colleges grabbing all top spots in the list. Ten of its colleges also make the list of top 20. DU’s Hindu College has once again secured the first position in the NIRF collegewise rankings, followed by Miranda House in the second place.

The latest list, released on Thursday, saw a major reshuffle among the Capital’s top colleges: Hansraj College leapt from the 12th spot to third, Kirori Mal College rose from the ninth rank to fourth, St Stephen’s dropped from the third position to fifth. Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College (ARSD) slipped from the fifth to the seventh spot, and Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) slid down the chart from 10th to 17th rank.

The ranking framework evaluates colleges on five broad parameters — Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI), and Perception (PR).

Hindu College retained its lead with a score of 86 in TLR, 66.92 in RP, 88.90 in GO, 77.35 in OI, and 96.08 in PR. Its RP score continues to climb, up from 59.88 last year, while perception has also strengthened.

Miranda House maintained its second-place standing, posting a score of 83.48 in TLR, 69.09 in RP, 88.98 in GO, 84.79 in OI, and 87.30 in PR. These figures reflect improvements in research and inclusivity compared to 2024, when its TLR and RP had slipped.

Hansraj recorded the most dramatic rise, breaking into the top three. Its TLR nearly doubled from 56.38 in 2024 to 85 this year, while RP improved from 80.11 to 96.31. GO, however, dipped slightly from 75.67 to 70.65.

Kirori Mal, now in fourth place, showed gains across most parameters — 86.67 in TLR, 79.65 in RP, and 83.61 in GO.

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St Stephen’s, which had climbed to third last year from 14th, fell back to fifth. ARSD slipped to the seventh spot, weighed down by a decline in graduation outcomes and perception.

LSR’s drop to the 17th spot was its steepest in recent years, with weaker TLR and GO scores offsetting its traditionally strong performance in perception.

“We are grappling towards research, and we feel inspired to do more research and writing — this is healthy competition,” said Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda. “More resources should be provided for development and application-based understanding. This is a collective win for DU.”

On the other hand, Hindu College’s Principal Anju Srivastava said the institution’s focus had shifted beyond textbooks. “We have been trying to enhance education beyond the curriculum. Looking at the current time, we need to give more offers for internships, more hands-on and skill-oriented opportunities to students, and industry-academia linkages. These rankings show that the path we are on is correct, and we will keep working towards it.”

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Kirori Mal principal Dinesh Khattar called the jump to fourth place a collective achievement. “We have explicitly focused on research and have facilitated both faculty and students who produced excellent research with recognition. The college has also helped fund many students and faculty to participate and produce interdisciplinary research and made it possible to publish in reputed international journals.”

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