National Institutional
Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a ranking methodology released annually by the Ministry of
Education, Government of
India, to rank institutions of
higher education in India. The framework was approved by the
former Ministry of Human Resource Development (now
the Ministry of
Education) and launched by the Minister on 29 September 2015.
Depending on
their areas of operation, institutions have been ranked under 11 different
categories – overall, university, colleges, engineering, management, pharmacy,
law, medical, architecture, dental and research. The Framework uses
several parameters for ranking purposes like resources, research, and
stakeholder perception. These parameters have been grouped into five clusters
and these clusters were assigned certain weights. These weights depend on the
type of institution. About 3500 institutions voluntarily participated in the
first round of rankings.