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NIRF 2025 Ranking: The Ministry of Education released the NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) 2025 rankings on September 4. Typically published in the first half of the year, the rankings were delayed this time around. The NIRF rankings assess institutions across 17 categories, including a new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) segment, and are a vital benchmark for students, educators, and policymakers.
NIRF Rankings 2025 | Overall Category | Engineering Colleges | Top Universities | Top Colleges | Top MBA Colleges | Law | State Public Universities | Medical | Research |
The overall category was led by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, followed by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, AIIMS Delhi, JNU and BHU.
Top Institutions in NIRF 2025 – Overall Category
In last year’s rankings, different domains had their specific leaders. For engineering, IIT Madras held the top spot; in medical disciplines, AIIMS New Delhi and similar institutions were distinguished; B-schools saw IIM Ahmedabad leading, and in the universities category, IISc Bengaluru featured prominently.
What is new this year?
This year’s rankings come with significant updates to the framework. Among the notable changes is the inclusion of an SDG-based category that evaluates institutions on sustainability metrics, a first in NIRF history.
As such, the 2025 rankings will not only rank academic prowess but also sustainable practices alongside traditional parameters like teaching quality, research output, and institutional outreach.
The new format also highlights the evolution of NIRF over its tenth edition, reinforcing its role as a comprehensive, data-driven assessment platform for higher education institutions across India.
One of the most significant updates in NIRF 2025 is the treatment of retracted research publications. For the first time, institutions will face penalties under the “Research and Professional Practice” parameter if their faculty’s published work has been withdrawn due to misconduct or errors.
The framework introduces a negative weightage formula where the percentage of retractions compared to total publications is factored in. Although the penalty being applied this year is marginal, the Ministry has clarified that stricter deductions are likely in subsequent years.
