BITS Pilani Rajasthan Group Vice Chancellor V. Ramgopal Rao said the Ministry of Education’s National Institutional Ranking Framework has come a long way since its inception a decade ago and is offering a credible alternative to rankings done by foreign private agencies.
Nevertheless, he believes that the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking system continues to face certain specific challenges that need to be addressed.
“The key achievement is that NIRF is announced by the Government of India. It is officially recognised. In contrast, the QS rankings and Times Higher Education rankings are conducted by private organisations, which maintain a high perception because it suits their business model, and their services can be contracted out,” Rao said.
“NIRF has made a lot of progress in the last 10 years in terms of its evolution and strengthening some of these standards. Still, there are many challenges,” he told PTI in an interview.
The BITS Pilani Group vice-chancellor said he believes NIRF needs to be strengthened further, given the participation of over 14,000 individual institutions in it, and the rankings are used by the Government of India for funding and other purposes.
The 10th edition of NIRF was announced on September 4, 2025.
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani), entered the top 10 university rankings for the first time and secured the seventh position. BITS Pilani Rajasthan, has also improved its overall ranking from 26th to 23rd, and made a big jump from 20th to 11th in the rankings among engineering institutes this year.
V. Ramgopal Rao, who was earlier the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi), suggested that some changes are needed in the standards of evaluation of research for accurate rating of institutes.
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