NIRF 2026 Rankings Awaited; Know How To Check Top Colleges Ranking, Categories Covered And Previous Year List Here

The Ministry of Education has not yet announced the official release date for the NIRF 2026 rankings. However, the annual list is expected to be published in September, possibly during the third week, based on recent release trends. Students, parents and institutions can access the rankings on the official website, nirfindia.org, once released.

The 2026 edition will rank higher education institutions across multiple categories, including engineering, medical, universities, colleges, management, pharmacy, law and science-related disciplines. Until the new list is released, the NIRF 2025 rankings remain the latest available benchmark for comparing colleges and universities.

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NIRF 2026 Release date

The Ministry of Education is yet to confirm the NIRF 2026 ranking announcement date. Reports indicate that the rankings are likely to be released in September 2026, with several education portals expecting the announcement by the third week of the month.

The recent release pattern is as follows:

The exact date should be treated as unconfirmed until the Ministry of Education publishes an official notice.

How to check rankings?

After the rankings are released, candidates can follow these steps:

1. Visit the official NIRF website,nirfindia.org.

2. Open the rankings section.

3. Select the year “2026”.

4. Choose a category such as Overall, Engineering, Medical, University, Colleges or Management.

5. View the ranking table or download the category-wise PDF.

6. Check the institute’s rank, score, institute ID and performance details.

The official website will host the complete category-wise lists and institutional data.shiksha

Categories covered

The NIRF framework evaluates institutions across 17 categories:

• Overall.

• Universities.

• Colleges.

• Research institutions.

• Engineering.

• Management.

• Pharmacy.

• Medical.

• Dental.

• Law.

• Architecture and planning.

• Agriculture and allied sectors.

• Innovation.

• Open universities.

• Skill universities.

• State public universities.

• Sustainable Development Goals.

The ranking is intended to help students compare institutions using academic, research, outcome and perception-based indicators.

Ranking parameters

NIRF rankings are calculated using five broad parameters:

Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR): Faculty strength, student intake, infrastructure and learning resources.

Research and Professional Practice (RP): Publications, patents, research funding and professional outcomes.

Graduation Outcomes (GO): Results, placements, higher studies and examination performance.

Outreach and Inclusivity (OI): Regional diversity, representation of women, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.

Perception (PR): Reputation among academics, employers and other stakeholders.

For certain categories, the weightage differs between Category A and Category B institutions. The reported weightage for engineering, management, pharmacy and architecture categories is:

Category A institutions generally include institutions of national importance, state universities, deemed-to-be universities, private universities and other autonomous institutions. Category B institutions are affiliated to a university and do not have complete academic autonomy.

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NIRF 2025 leading institutes

In the NIRF 2025 Overall category, IIT Madras was ranked first, followed by the Indian Institute of Science and IIT Bombay. AIIMS Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University also featured among the top 10.

IIT Madras also retained the top position in the NIRF Engineering category for the 10th consecutive year, according to the information cited in the live update. Its reported NIRF score was 87.31. The 2026 rankings, once released, will show whether the institute continues its lead.