NIRF Rankings 2025 were delayed six weeks as EY verified the data—the first time a third-party has vetted data since the rankings began in 2015.
The NIRF rankings 2025 released by the Union Education ministry on September 4th were vetted by a private consultancy agency – marking the first time a third party agency has been used for verification, reported the New Indian Express. This is the first instance since the inception of the rankings by the Ministry of Education (formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development) in 2015. The task was handed to EY—a private global consulting firm that provides consultancy, auditing and other services to governments and businesses. The firm has taken up various other projects for the government in the past.
Sources told New Indian Express that the decision to rope in EY for double verification of data was taken in the backdrop of an inexplicable surge in rankings by some institutions and the shocking slump registered by a few others. “It was heartening to note that the firm (EY) endorsed the rankings made by us and did not find even a single error,” stated an official with the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) team to New Indian Express. The rankings were delayed by six weeks this year due to the additional verification process.. “Post-Covid, we were releasing the rankings by July and August. It was done in June since 2015 when we commenced the ranking process. Our original plan was to release it by mid-July this year. But due to the third-party verification, we were able to release them only by the first week of September,” said an official to New Indian Express.
The increased verification process can be read as an attempt to professionalize and cross-verify the authenticity of the rankings. It is important to note that the data used by NIRF is self-submitted by the institutions through the NIRF portal. The first rankings were released in 2016, with over 3000 institutions participating. In 2017, two categories of ‘Overall’ and ‘College’ were added to the existing categories of Universities, Engineering, Management and Pharmacy. At present, fourteen different categories are ranked by the agency.
In the ‘Overall’ rankings, University of Delhi secured the 15th rank. Amongst college rankings, twenty-nine colleges affiliated with University of Delhi made it to the top hundred colleges of the NIRF ranking. DU colleges secured the top five ranks – with Hindu College at Rank 1, Miranda House at 2, Hansraj at 3, Kirori Mal at 4 and St. Stephens at 5. Other colleges included Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College at rank7, Sri Venkateshwara at 11, Deshbandhu College at 13, Lady Shri Ram at 17 and SRCC at 18.
The parameters considered for the rankings are as follows as outlined on the NIRF official website.
1) Teaching Learning and Resources
2) Research and Professional Practice
3) Graduation Outcome
4) Outreach and Inclusivity
5)Perception
Further methodologies of ranking have been detailed for specialized colleges, open universities, etc.
Anjali Paruvu
Image Credits: https://highereducationplus.com/nirf-rankings-2025-what-is-new-and-changes-this-year/
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