NIRF 2025 Rankings: IISc Bengaluru best varsity; list of top universities in India

The Karnataka-based university is also the first private institution to feature in the top three of the NIRF rankings.
Jamia Millia Islamia, which was ranked third last year, has slipped one rank to bag the fourth position.

Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) has slipped to the fourth position from last year’s third, followed by the University of Delhi at fifth. 

BITS Pilani has grabbed 7th position in the NIRF 2025, however, Vellore Institute of Technology, which was at number 10 position last year, failed to secure space in the top 10.

In the engineering category, IIT-Madras retains its top position for the 10th time in a row.

This year’s rankings were announced across 17 categories — Overall, Universities, Colleges, Research Institutions, Innovation, Open Universities, State Public Universities, Skill Universities and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the 2024 rankings, IISc secured the top spot, followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Banaras Hindu University, University of Delhi, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Aligarh Muslim University, Jadavpur University and Vellore Institute of Technology.

The NIRF 2023 rankings included three non-government universities: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Coimbatore and Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Manipal, both of which were also on the list in 2022. Notably, Vellore Institute of Technology made its debut in the rankings at the 8th position.

In 2022, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru secured the top spot among universities with a score of 83.57. It was followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, which scored 68.47 and took second place, while Jamia Millia Islamia came in third with a score of 65.91. Jamia Millia Islamia made a significant improvement, rising from rank 6 in 2021 to rank 3 in 2022, displacing Banaras Hindu University, which fell to rank 6.