NIRF 2025: IIT Madras tops rankings for 7th year. Check list of top colleges, universities

The Union Education Ministry today released the NIRF India Rankings 2025, marking the 10th edition of this annual assessment of higher education institutions. Published under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), the rankings evaluate institutions across 17 categories and eight subject areas, offering a crucial benchmark for students, educators, and policymakers.

The categories include Overall, Universities, Colleges, Research Institutions, Innovation, State Public Universities, Open Universities, Skill Universities, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), alongside subject-specific streams like Engineering, Management, Medical, Law, and more.

For the seventh consecutive year, IIT Madras topped the Overall category, followed by IISc Bengaluru — also ranked first in 2017 and 2018. Completing the top five were IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IIT Kanpur.

In the Research Institutions category, IISc Bengaluru secured the top spot, followed by IIT Madras and IIT Delhi. The top 10 also included Homi Bhabha National Institute, IIT Roorkee, and the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research.

Among Universities, IISc Bengaluru continued its unbroken streak at the top since the inception of the rankings in 2016. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Delhi University followed, with DU improving from sixth to fifth this year.

In the Colleges category, Hindu College retained its top position, ahead of Miranda House. Hansraj College surged from 12th to third place, and Kirori Mal College rose from ninth to fourth. St. Stephen’s College ranked fifth, dropping from third last year.

Among Open universities, IGNOU, New Delhi led the list, followed by Karnataka State Open University and UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University. Professor Uma Kanjilal, Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU, credited the achievement to the collective effort of the IGNOU fraternity and reaffirmed the university's commitment to accessible, inclusive education.

In the Management category, IIM Ahmedabad ranked first, followed by IIM Bangalore and IIM Kozhikode. Other notable mentions include IIT Delhi and IIM Lucknow.

AIIMS Delhi continued its dominance in the Medical category, with PGIMER Chandigarh and CMC Vellore ranked second and third, respectively.

IIT Madras also topped the SDG category, followed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and Jamia Millia Islamia. Reacting to the achievement, Professor V Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, said, “Being a topper consistently is a result of a collective, cohesive and focused team effort. Together, we pledge to put in our best efforts towards Viksit Bharat@2047.”

Highlighting reforms, Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi said, “Noteworthy changes in India Rankings 2025 included the introduction of negative marking for retracted articles. The removal of self-citations, implemented last year, was continued this year as well.”