The National Institutional Ranking Framework, or NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country, including institutes like IITs and NITs. According to the NIRF 2023 report, IITs across the country occupy 7 top spots out of 10. NIRF rankings are relevant input towards gauging the quality of the IITs along multiple dimensions such as academic excellence, assessment of faculty, qualitative overview of resources, research outputs, industry collaborations, opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, student life, and campus culture.
There are 5 broad parameters, further divided into specific sub-parameters that NIRF uses to, each of which has a maximum score of 100 and separate weightage:
- TLR (Teaching and Learning Resources): Evaluates teaching resources and their use, considering student-faculty ratio, faculty qualifications, and resource quality and expenditure. Evaluations consider spending on resources like libraries, labs, and infrastructure, as well as improvements in quality.
- RP (Research Productivity): Measures research quality, scholarships, publications, patents, funding, and earnings, reflecting the institute’s research output and student opportunities. It also considers patents filed, earnings from them, and project footprints.
- GO (Graduation Outcomes): It focuses on UG, PG, and PhD completion rates, on-time graduation percentages, institute placements, median salaries, admissions to top higher education institutes, and sustained entrepreneurial ventures.
- OI (Outreach and Inclusivity): assesses diversity by examining women, marginalized groups, and minorities’ representation. This includes female students, faculty in key roles, support for challenged students, and facilities for the physically challenged. It also measures regional diversity with domestic and international student numbers.
- PR (Perception): It is calculated based on a qualitative analysis/survey of funding agencies, organizations, private sector employers, research investors, etc. for an industrial perception. Academic peers’ perceptions and competitiveness are gauged by surveys and data. The public perception and trust are based on qualitative surveys among parents and the general public opinion.
The 2023 rankings and scores of the top 7 IITs are as follows:
| Overall NIRF Rank | IIT | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madras | 86.69 |
| 3 | Delhi | 82.16 |
| 4 | Bombay | 81.28 |
| 5 | Kanpur | 77.23 |
| 6 | Kharagpur | 71.82 |
| 7 | Roorkee | 71.66 |
| 8 | Guwahati | 68.78 |