The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved by the MHRD and launched by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), GoI on 29th September 2015. This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions. The parameters broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”.

India Rankings – 2016 based on this framework were released on 4th April 2016.

Salient Features

1. Methodology is based on developing a set of metrics for ranking of academic institutions,based on the parameters agreed upon by the core committee.

2.These parameters are organized into five broad heads, and have been further elaborated into suitable sub-heads. Each broad head has an overall weight assigned to it. Within each head, the various sub-heads also have an appropriate weight distribution.

3. An attempt is also made to identify the relevant data needed to suitably measure the performance score under each sub-head. Emphasis here is on identifying data that the institution can easily provide or is easy to obtain from third party sources and easily verifiable, where verification is needed. This is important in the interest of transparency.

4. A suitable metric is then proposed based on this data, which computes a score under each sub-head. The sub-head scores are then added to obtain scores for each individual head. The overall score is computed based on the weights allotted to each head. The overall score can take a maximum value of 100.

5. The institutions can then be rank-ordered based on their scores.