The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings were unveiled today, August 12, 2024, at 3 p.m. by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Soon after, he encouraged all Indian Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to take part in the ranking and rating system on his "X" (previously known as Twitter) handle. In the post, Pradhan emphasised that parents and students have a right to information about the quality, effectiveness, and advantages of an academic institution.
"All the 58,000 HEIs in the country must come under the ranking and rating framework. Employability skills are a priority," the post read.
The Minister of Education also pushed for skilling to be a factor in the ranking system.
"Our intangible aspects are a powerful stimuli to learning and development. We should devise mechanisms to bring intangible aspects of education in the ranking framework," the post mentioned.
In keeping with the objectives of the Viksit Bharat initiative, Pradhan also urged Indian educational establishments to cultivate a culture of excellence in education throughout the nation.
"I appeal to all the captains of Indian academia to come under the ranking framework, set ambitious goals, and strive for higher rankings in future editions. Together, let’s foster an environment of educational excellence for realising the goal of Viksit Bharat," he wrote.
IIT Madras took first place in this year's "overall" higher education category. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), located in Bangalore, comes in second; IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IIT Kanpur, in that order, take third, fourth, and fifth place. Eighth place went to IIT Roorkee, ninth place to IIT Guwahati, sixth place to AIIMS Delhi, and seventh place to IIT Kharagpur. JNU, New Delhi, comes in at number ten.
The Union Education Minister wrote in another post, "Rankings, ratings and accreditation is a vital recommendation of NEP 2020. Heartening that NIRF rankings deeply reflect the spirit of NEP. Congratulate all the HEIs who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, innovation, research, graduation outcomes and other parameters and bagged a place of pride in the India Rankings 2024."
