NIRF Ranking 2025: IISc Bengaluru still top university; BITS Pilani in top 10, DU in top 5

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have retained their number one and second positions, respectively, in the universities category of the 10th edition of the National Institutional Ranking and Framework’s India Rankings 2025, better known as the NIRF Ranking 2025.

Live Updates: NIRF Ranking 2025

This year, Delhi University has moved to the top 5 list from the sixth rank last year. It has improved on the publication and citation score , faculty student ratio, quality publication and number of graduating PhD students. However, on the IPR it has 2 out of 15.

Jamia Millia Islamia has, however, slipped down from its third rank last year. BITS Pilani has moved to the 7th position this year.

IISc Bangalore has been in the top spot of the universities category since the inception of the NIRF rankings.

The ranking was announced by the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar on Thursday at an event in Bharat Mandapam.

The table below provides a list of top 10 universities.

NIRF Ranking 2025 Universities List: Top 10

NIRF Ranking 2025: The changes

In the university category, IISC and JNU retained their top spot. For Manipal Academy of Higher Education, it is a jump to the third position from fourth last year.

It is also a massive jump for BITS Pilani this year, from the 19 position in 2024 to the top 10 this year. It has greatly improved on its score of perception. In 2024 out of 100 on perception it had scored 19.68 and in 2025 it stands at 49.19. So has its share of publications and citations increased.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore has slipped one position to 8th, from the 7th last year and so has AMU to the 10th position.

In the university category for Vellore Institute of Technology it is a slip from the top 10th position to 14th this year. Similarly for UoH it is one position step down. Earlier the university, which is an Institution of Eminence as well cited the new admission system through CUET, research gaps and diversity as the reasons behind the drop.

Also read NIRF Ranking 2025 Overall: IIT Madras retains top spot for 7th time, IISc Bangalore in second place

NIRF 2025: Changes in parameters

As per the ministry of education it has introduced stricter rules and added more parameters for evaluation and ranking. It has also introduced negative marking for the retraction of research papers.

The parameters for ranking broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”.

The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) ranked colleges and universities in 17 categories this year.The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) was added this year as a new category, where institutions were ranked on the basis of “Green practices and societal impact”.

The other categories include – overall category, university, college, engineering, management, pharmacy, law, medical, architecture and planning, dental, innovation, agriculture and allied sectors, research institutions, open universities, skill universities and state-funded public universities. The last three categories were added in 2024.

NIRF was approved by what was then called the ministry of human resource development and launched on September 29, 2015.