The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has once again secured the top spot among institutes in the country, maintaining its position for the fifth-consecutive year,” announced Union Minister of State for Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh on Monday.

In the universities category, IISc Bengaluru claimed the top position, followed by JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia in second and third place, respectively. These institutions held the same positions as last year.

The eighth edition of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) shed light on an important observation: “Faculty with doctoral qualifications are predominantly concentrated in the top 100 institutions. However, this poses a serious challenge as mentorship during doctoral training plays a vital role in preparing the faculty for careers in higher education.”

Among colleges, Miranda House, Hindu College and Presidency College-Chennai retained the first, second and third positions. Miranda House has been the top college for the seventh year in a row.

In the overall rankings, seven IITs — Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee, and Guwahati —secured places within the top 10. Noteworthy advancements were made by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), climbing from ninth to sixth position this year. Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru University retained its tenth spot in the overall category.

The ranking framework assesses institutions based on five broad parameters: Teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcomes; outreach and inclusivity; and perception. The ranks are determined by the total sum of marks assigned to each of these five parameters.

Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor, Najma Akhtar, expressed delight at the university’s progress, having improved from the 83rd rank in 2016 to the third rank in 2022. She attributed this achievement to the improved perception of the university’s teaching and research.

Banaras Hindu University showed improvement, climbing from sixth to fifth place in the category. Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Coimbatore, Calcutta University, Vellore Institute of Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, and University of Hyderabad secured subsequent positions in the universities category.

In the engineering institutions category, eight IITs - Madras, Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur, Roorkee, Kharagpur, Guwahati, and Hyderabad - dominated the top 10 ranks. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirapalli slipped one spot, securing the ninth rank, while Jadavpur University made its entry into the top 10, securing the tenth position.

Director V Kamakoti of IIT Madras attributed their continued success in the NIRF rankings to “collective effort, continuous assessment, and improvement strategies.”

These rankings serve as a testament to the hard work and dedication exhibited by the institutions as they strive for excellence in the field of education and research.

Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh said that in the list of top 15 colleges of the country in NIRF 2023, nine colleges are from DU.

 “I hope that next year University of Delhi and all its colleges would set records in all categories by giving even better results,” he said.

 IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore retained the first and second ranks respectively among the B-Schools in the country. IIM Calcutta, which was in the third spot last year, slipped to the fourth position while IIM Kozhikode bagged the third position.

Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA, said, “We are delighted to be acknowledged as the best management institute in India by the Ministry of Education’s NIRF 2023 rankings. This further strengthens our resolve to uphold high standards of excellence in every aspect of what we do and continue to contribute meaningfully to our nation’s growth”.

The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hyderabad bagged the top rank in Pharmacy for the first time pushing Jamia Hamdard to the second slot. Jamia Hamdard was ranked at the top in the category for four consecutive years.

Among the medical colleges, AIIMS, Delhi bagged the top spot, followed by PGIMER Chandigarh and Christian Medical College, Vellore. The trio bagged the same positions last year. AIIMS Delhi has occupied the top slot in the category for the sixth consecutive year.

Among the dental colleges, Saveetha Institute of Medical And Technical Sciences-Chennai, Manipal College of Dental Sciences and DY Patil Vidyapeeth-Pune retained the top three positions.

“Changes in metrics, parameters and normalisation algorithms were introduced over the years, although the basic framework was kept intact,” a senior ministry official said.

“As a result, the ranking of institutions has largely remained consistent, especially amongst 25 top-ranked institutions, over the years, although individual ranks might have changed by a few slots for some institutions due to performance variations across institutions on some of the parameters,” the official said.

“All data for ranked institutions is painstakingly verified. Inconsistencies, contradictions and outliers are screened and identified with due diligence and patience.

“Institutions have to be dealt with tactfully as they feel offended with direct and blunt questions on the validity of data submitted by them. It requires a lot of patience in educating individual institutions on the quality requirements of the data submitted by them,” the official added.

While from 2023, a new subject “Agriculture and Allied Sectors” has been introduced in NIRF, the “Innovation” ranking previously executed by the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) has been integrated into NIRF with an aim to reduce the burden on institutions of providing similar data to two different agencies.

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi has bagged the top slot in Agriculture and Allied Sectors.

With the addition of the new category (Innovation) subject domain (Agriculture and Allied Sectors) and expansion of “Architecture” to “Architecture and Planning”, the existing portfolio of India Rankings has increased to 13 categories and subject domains.