NIRF Ranking 2025: Jadavpur top state university, IGNOU best open institution, Symbiosis ahead in skilling

Jadavpur University in Kolkata is the top state public university in the country, Indira Gandhi National Open University is the best open university and the Symbiosis Skills and Professional University in Pune secured the highest rank among skill universities, on National Institutional Ranking Framework’s lists of state public, open and skill universities, respectively.

Live Updates: NIRF Ranking 2025

All three categories were included last year. The NIRF Ranking 2025, the 10th edition, was announced on Thursday, September 4. This year, NIRF covered 14,163 participating institutions across 17 categories. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is again the top engineering college and at the top in overall rankings; Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is the top university and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad the top MBA school.

Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other speakers, who released the rankings, said the new categories mark a recognition of India’s evolving education priorities. The framework, he said, seeks to reward not just academic and research excellence but also innovation, accessibility and the delivery of workforce-ready skills critical to a growing economy.

NIRF University Ranking 2025: State universities

Jadavpur University in West Bengal has overtaken Anna University to become the top state institution. Punjab University is now in third position. Savitribai Phule Pune University and Calcutta University, in positions three and four, respectively, last year, are not among the top 10 this year. The top 10 institutions in NIRF ranking 2025’s state university category are given below.

NIRF Ranking 2025: Top 10 state universities

Gauhati University has joined the top 10.

NIRF Open University Ranking 2025

Among open universities, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) New Delhi has retained the top spot but the other two spots in top three have new occupants.

Netaji Subhash Open University, West Bengal, and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University in Gujarat, have both slipped out of top three, replaced by Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) in Mysuru and UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University in Prayagraj.

NIRF 2025: Top open universities

NIRF ranking of skill universities

Like in the case of open universities, the top spot has the same institution as last year’s NIRF rankings but the second and third positions have seen changes. Shri Vishwakarma Skill University in Haryana has been pushed to the third position.

Skill-based institutions were ranked separately for their role in bridging industry demands with education.