From 2,426 to 7,692 NIRF institutions in a decade, research improves, perception dips: KPMG analysis

The category-wise performance of higher education institutions over the last year have, on an average, improved across most parameters except perception, shows a KPMG analysis of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) data.

The institutions have shown a consistent improvement in the Research and Professional Practice (RP) and Graduation Outcomes (GO) parameters across all categories, as per the analysis, showing growth in academic output and employability.

Teaching, Learning, and Resources (TLR) recorded a boost in colleges, management, and agriculture categories, suggesting that institutions are investing in infrastructure and faculty, according to KPMG study.

Research and management institutes have performed worst in perception, with NIRF scores in negative. Only agriculture and university categories showed some gains in the criteria.

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Among the categories, b-schools recorded the highest overall improvement with maximum TLR and and GO scores while architecture and planning institutes emerged as the only ones to note a decline, due to weaker TLR and perception scores.

Colleges and law schools saw recorded gains across all parameters while dental institutions saw growth in GO and RP, despite a dip in TLR.

NIRF Analysis: Overview of average scores

Institutions are ranked based on five parameters in NIRF. Here's category-wise difference in average scores of institutions in each parameter:

10-year review of NIRF

From 2016 to 2025, the number of institutions grew from 2,426 to 7,692, KPMG found. The college category saw a growth from 803 to 4,030 institutions.

Emphasising on research, KPMG revealed that there has been a 48 percent increase in PhD-qualified faculty in engineering institutions over a decade. On the other hand, PhD student enrolment rose from 97,947 in 2019 to 1,18,556 in 2025.

India’s share of global publications rose from 3.5 percent in 2017 to 5.2 percent in 2024 while patent filings tripled between 2022 and 2024. Moreover, the median salaries of graduating students across institutions almost doubled over five years, shows NIRF analysis.