NIRF ranking 2025: IIT Madras retains top spot

The IIT Roorkee has moved up one place to seventh from last year, pushing the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi to eight

Published on: Sep 4, 2025, 13:02:30 IST

By Sanjay Maurya

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The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has overall secured the top position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025 for the seventh consecutive year. It emerged as the top engineering college for the 10th year since the rankings were introduced in 2016. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru has overall been ranked second, and IIT Bombay third.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the rankings. (ANI)

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar announced the rankings on Thursday for Indian Higher Education Institutions in 17 categories, such as engineering, management, medicine, university, law, research, and agriculture.

The IIT Roorkee has moved up one place to seven from last year, pushing the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi to eight. The IIT Guwahati has dropped out of the top 10. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, have improved their rankings by one place compared to last year, and risen to the ninth and 10th positions.

IIT Madras also secured the top spot in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) category added in the 10th edition of the ranking. Higher education institutions were examined in terms of green initiatives and environmentally friendly practices under this category.

In a post on X, IIT Madras said that, setting benchmarks year after year, the institute continues its legacy of excellence in education, research, and innovation. “From nurturing world-class talent to driving transformative technologies and sustainable solutions, IIT Madras stands at the forefront of nation-building.”

IISc emerged as the top university in India. AIIMS New Delhi was ranked top in the medical category. National Law School of India University clinched the top spot in law colleges. Hindu College (Delhi University) has emerged as the top college.

NIRF evaluates institutions based on key parameters with different weightages. Teaching, Learning, and Resources carries a weightage of 30%, as does Research and Professional Practice. Graduation Outcomes account for 20%, Outreach and Inclusivity 10%, and Perception 10%. These weightages may vary slightly depending on the ranking category.

A total of 14,163 higher education institutions participated in the NIRF Rankings 2025.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanjay Maurya
Sanjay Maurya is a Principal Correspondent with Hindustan Times, where he covers education, with a focus on school and higher education, competitive examinations, education policy and governance. Working as part of the National Bureau, he is based in New Delhi and reports on the Ministry of Education and covers various statutory bodies like UGC, AICTE and NCTE and autonomous bodies like CBSE and NCERT. His reporting also tracks the implementation of key government reforms and policies from school education to higher education including in IITs, NITs, IIMs, central and state universities, and their impact on students and educational institutions. His reporting on the irregularities and rushed implementation of CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of Class 12 board exams 2026, triggered administrative action, leading to the transfer of the board's two senior-most officials and the constitution of a committee to probe alleged irregularities in procurement process of the system. He joined Hindustan Times in December 2024. Prior to that, he had a three-year stint at Careers360, where he reported on school and higher education, entrance examinations, admissions, rankings and various education policies involving universities and professional education bodies. Over the years, Maurya has reported extensively on major developments in India's education sector, including the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, changes in school education, higher education regulation, and the evolution of entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET. He regularly produces data-driven and explanatory stories based on government documents, parliamentary proceedings, court records and official data. His focus remains on helping readers understand how education policies and institutional decisions affect millions of students, teachers and educational institutions across the country.Read More

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