Edu minister Pradhan questions NIRF peer perception metric, urges more data-driven parameters for fairer rankings

IIT Madras has once again emerged as the top-ranked institution in India’s higher education landscape, according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025, announced on Sept 4.

The institute also maintained its decade-long streak as the country’s leading engineering college.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who presented the India Rankings 2025 awards, raised concerns over the ‘peer perception’ component, which makes up 10% of the total score.

“The NIRF should ensure that government-funded institutions do not fall behind because of this yardstick,” he said.

The debate over rankings is not new. Last year, state governments and public universities argued that metropolitan institutions have an advantage in peer perception scores compared to smaller or state-run colleges.

Other NIRF evaluation criteria include teaching, learning, resources, research, professional practice, graduation outcomes, and inclusivity.

Pradhan expressed confidence that NIRF will evolve further.

“I am confident that the NIRF will become one of the best accreditation frameworks by including metrics such as entrepreneurs created by an institution, involving more data-driven approaches, and adding more categories and institutions in the future,” he said.

This year’s rankings covered 17 categories, reflecting the increasing participation of institutions across the country.

“This shows the stable growth of our higher education sector. The challenge is to increase both the number of students and the quality of education,” Pradhan added.