Dharmendra Pradhan today unveiled the sixth annual NIRF rankings for 2021, encouraging more schools to participate in the effort to make India a desirable worldwide study destination.
NEW DELHI: The India Rankings 2021, created under the National Institutional Ranking Framework, were announced by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan (NIRF). The NIRF India Rankings 2021 of higher educational institutions is being published for the sixth time (HEIs).
The education minister urged more schools to come up with regional ranking schemes in order to showcase India as a desired worldwide study destination. The Ministry of Education created the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2015, and it released its first rankings in 2016 for the University category as well as three domain-specific rankings, namely Engineering, Management, and Pharmacy schools.
NIRF 2021: Categories
The overall number of categories was increased to 10 during a six-year period, including Overall, University, College, Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Architecture, Medical, Law, and Dental. This year, a new category of research institution was created, bringing the total number of research institutions to 11.
NIRF Ranking 2021: Marks, Parameters and weightage
| Parameter | Marks | Weightage | |
| 1 | Teaching, Learning & Resources | 100 | 0.30 |
| 2 | Research and Professional Practice | 100 | 0.30 |
| 3 | Graduation Outcomes | 100 | 0.20 |
| 4 | Outreach and Inclusivity | 100 | 0.10 |
| 5 | Perception | 100 | 0.10 |
“A total of 16 – 18 sub-parameters are considered for rating the institutions in different categories,” according to the ministry of education. The entire amount of marks awarded for each of these five major categories of criteria is used to assign ranks.”
In addition, the technique for rating universities under Research Institutions was updated to incorporate the following two sub-parameters:
- Research Papers published in journals covered in the First Quartile of Journal Citation Report (JCRQ1)
- H Index.
The NIRF ranking received a total of 6,272 applications this year. 1657 schools were ranked in the overall category, 1143 in engineering, 659 in management, 351 in pharmacy, 120 in law, 111 in medical, 78 in architecture, and 1802 in general degree institutions, according to the NIRF 2021 rankings.
NIRF 2021 ranking list
Check out the NIRF rankings 2021 for the top universities and institutions in each category.
| Category | Top Institute | Score |
| Overall | IIT Madras | 86.76 |
| University | IISc Bangalore | 82.67 |
| Engineering | IIT Madras | 90.19 |
| Management | IIM Ahmedabad | 83.69 |
| Pharmacy | Jamia Hamdard | 78.52 |
| College | Miranda House | 75.42 |
| Medical | All India Institute of Medical Science – AIIMS New Delhi | 92.07 |
| Law | NLSIU Bengaluru | 78.06 |
| Architecture | IIT Roorkee | 82.65 |
| Dental | Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Udupi | 81.30 |
| Research | Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru | 86.48 |
NIRF 2021: List of institutions ranked
“200 institutions are ranked in the engineering discipline, 100 each in the Overall, University, and College categories, 75 each in Management and Pharmacy, 50 each in Medical and Research Institutions, 40 in Dental, 30 in Law, and 25 in Architecture,” the ministry of education stated in an official press release.
It said that further ranks are appropriately grouped in Rank Bands of 101-150 and 151-200 for Overall, University and College, and 201-250 and 251-300 for Engineering.
IIT Madras best Universities In NIRF 2021
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has kept its top place in the overall university rankings, while the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru has been named the country’s best institution.
Teaching, learning, and resources (TLR), research and professional practise (RP), graduation outcomes (GO), outreach and inclusiveness (OI), and peer perception are the six factors included in the NIRF India Ranking 2021 of universities and colleges.
The NIRF rankings 2021 categories are- Overall, Universities, Engineering, Colleges, Research institution (newly added), Management, Pharmacy, Medical, Architecture, and Dental and Law. The dental college NIRF ranking was introduced last year.
Former education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ presented the NIRF rankings on June 11 last year. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru and IIT Delhi were placed first and second, respectively, in the overall NIRF India rankings 2020.
Non-IITs in the top 10 NIRF rating list 2020 were Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU). On September 29, 2015, the Minister of Education unveiled the NIRF. The NIRF rankings are published every year to honour India’s best universities, colleges, and other educational institutions.