The Union Ministry of Education (MoE) this week published the NIRF Rankings 2023, which is the annual ranking of top Indian universities and colleges.
This year, the NIRF ranked the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-Madras) as top overall institution, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IISc) as the top university, Miranda House, Delhi as the top college, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi as the number one medical institution.
The NIRF stands for National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). It publishes its rankings annually.
Which are the top Indian institutions?
The Indian Institution of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) leads the overall ranking with a score of 86.69, followed by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, with scores of 83.09 and 82.16 respectively. In ranks four and five were Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
In the university rankings, Indian Institute of Science received rank one with a score of 83.16. In second and third place are Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), with scores of 68.92 and 67.73.
The college ranking was led by Miranda House, which scored 74.81, closely followed by Hindu College, Presidency College, PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, and St. Xavier’s College.
The top institution of management was Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. For pharmacy, dental, and law, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Hyderabad, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, and National Law School of India University ranked first respectively.
How are the institutions graded in NIRF rankings?
The scores attributed to each institution are based on five parameters: Teaching, Learning, and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RP), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI), Graduation Outcomes (GO), and Perception (PR).
Each of these parameters has a set of sub-parameters, which carry marks.
There are four sub-parameters under Teaching, Learning, and Resources. These are Student Strength Including Doctoral Students (20 marks), Faculty-Student Ratio with emphasis on permanent faculty (30 marks), Combined Metric for Faculty with PhD (20 marks), and Financial Resources and their Utilisation (30 marks). In total, Teaching, Learning, and Resources has carries 100 marks, with a rank weightage of 0.3.
Research and Professional Practice has four sub-parameters as well: Combined Metric for Publications (35 marks), Combined Metric for Quality of Publications (35 marks), IPR and Patents (15 marks), and Footprint of projects and professional practice and executive development programmes (15 marks). The total marks for this parameter are 100 marks, and the rank weightage is 0.30.
Graduation Outcome has two sub-parameters: Metric for University Examinations (60) and Metric for Number of PhD Students Graduated (40 marks). Again, the total is 100, but the rank weightage is 0.20.
There are four sub-categories under Outreach and Inclusivity. These are Percentage of Students from Other States/Countries (30 marks), Percentage of Women (30 marks), Economically and Socially Challenged Students (20 marks), and Facilities for Physically Challenged Students (20 marks). Like the rest of the parameters, the total is 100, while the rank weightage is only 0.10.
Finally, Perception has only one sub-parameter, which is Peer Perception: Academic Peers and Employers. This alone carries 100 marks, and has a weightage of 0.10.
The NIRF report also gives the rankings of sub-categories of institutions, such as Engineering, Medicine, Management, Law, Architecture and Planning, Agriculture, Pharmacy, Dental, and Innovation.
