The National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking list has been released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Practice question for mains:

Q. What is NIRF? Discuss the parameters and methodology used in the ranking. Also, discuss its key features and limitations.

About NIRF

• The NIRF is a methodology adopted by the Ministry of HRD to rank institutions of higher education in India.
• The Framework was approved and on 29 September 2015.
• There are separate rankings for different types of institutions depending on their areas of operation like universities and colleges, engineering institutions, management institutions, pharmacy institutions and architecture institutions.
• The ranking framework evaluates institutions on five broad generic groups of parameters, i.e. Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) and Perception (PR).

Why need such rankings?

• Rankings help universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement.
• The ranking is necessary for transparency and healthy competition.

Highlights of the 2020 rankings

• IIT Madras retains 1^st Position in Overall Ranking as well as in Engineering,
• Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru tops the University list.
• IIM Ahmedabad tops in Management Category and AIIMS occupies the top slot in Medical category for a third consecutive year.
• Miranda College retains 1^st position amongst colleges for a third consecutive year.
• Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, Delhi secures 1^st position in “Dental” category, dental institutions included for the first time in India Rankings 2020.

Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

Attend Now