The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a system used by India’s Ministry of Education to rank and evaluate higher education institutions in the country. On September 29, 2015, the MHRD approved the Framework and the Minister of Human Resource Development announced it. The primary objective of this ranking system is to encourage institutes to compete against one another and strive to achieve and work on their growth and goals.
The fact that the rating is done every year is one of the many advantages that NIRF offers. As a result, the institution is eligible to apply for the NIRF rating each year. Another benefit is that, unlike accreditation/certification, the NIRF rating occurs annually, ensuring the performance and quality of higher education institutions are never jeopardized.
Following are the key features of the ranking process:
1. Institutional classification
Each institution will be categorized according to the discipline of the courses it provides and the type of institution. This helps to integrate collectivism into the process of ranking and normalizing the scores achieved by institutions.
Depending on their areas of operation, institutions have been ranked under 11 different categories:
- Overall
- University Category
- Engineering Category
- Management Category
- Pharmacy Discipline
- Colleges Category
- Medical Discipline
- Law Discipline
- Architecture Discipline
- Dental College and
- Research Institutions
There will be rankings for establishments from a category perspective as well as an overall ranking for establishments that meet the required set of criteria.
2. Ranking by objective and factual parameters
In the NIRF ranking process, 90% of the metrics are objective and evidence-based. The factual data for each parameter can be easily prepared from various readily accessible data during the various phases of the university process.
The remaining 10% of data is collected through subjective perceptions of academic peers, professors, students, and other stakeholders. Subjective data is usually collected through surveys that are conducted periodically through the NIRF portal.
The five ranking framework metrics are:
- Teaching, Learning, and Resources
- Research and Professional Practices
- Graduation Outcomes
- Outreach and Inclusivity and
- Perception
Benefits that NIRF can provide to Indian institutions:
- Assists institutions to improve their quality in line with international standards.
- Promote academic excellence by creating a sense of competition among universities in India.
- Supports institutions in identifying areas for improvement.
The general causes of declines for certain institutions in the NIRF ranking are:
- Some institutions that lack resources relative to private and central institutes may be likely to achieve lower degrees.
- Competition between establishments that have only three successful batches of students will be unfair.
About the Author: Nishtha Gupta
Nishtha Gupta is a student of English Literature at Jamia Millia Islamia and currently based in New Delhi. She is extremely passionate about writing on technological advancements in the field of education. She also writes poetry and fiction. Nishtha has an e-book published with Amazon’s Kindle. Her other interests include music, reading and dancing. She wishes to pursue her career in the field of publishing.
This article has been re-published on Medium
