NIRF rankings can't be window dressing

The 2024 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings, an annual exercise launched in 2016 to rank higher education institutions (HEIs), did not have many surprises. IITs and IISc Bangalore topped the charts yet again. Buoyed by NIRF's success, however, the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) wants to launch a similar exercise for its 15,000 ITIs.

NIRF was launched as a counter to international HEI rankings because the parameters of these lists did not reflect the Indian context. It was meant to be a reliable tool for students to make informed choices about institutions and courses. It was hoped that NIRF would spur competition, pushing institutions to improve to compete internationally.

Now, eight years down the line, GoI must assess whether NIRF has succeeded in raising standards, unleashed R&D competition, helped drive resources for the best-possible outcomes, improved academic output and collaborations, and launched new peer-reviewed publications and internationalised campuses.


Rankings must be more than an annual validation exercise and a marketing tool. So, MSDE must first determine the purpose for ranking ITIs. The biggest challenge for ITIs is the inability to attract students - 43% enrolment rate in privately managed ITIs and 57% in government-managed ones. Only 6% of senior secondary-level students opt for vocational education.

The proposed ranking should be able to spur intake, without which there is little likelihood of accelerated investments and industry linkages to improve these institutions. Unless such ranking exercises help to improve the quality of institutions, students and faculty, and encourage innovation, they will remain vanity exercises.