Jaipur: The college education department has directed principals of eligible govt colleges to apply for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2027 rankings to improve institutional performance, infrastructure and national visibility.The move comes as govt colleges in Rajasthan continue to lag private and technical institutions in the rankings. Last year, no state govt college figured among the top 100 institutions in the country. Despite Rajasthan having more than 28 state universities, the second highest in India, none featured among the top 50 state public universities in the 2025 rankings.In a letter to principals, Wednesday, Nathmal Didel, commissioner for college education and state project director (PM-USHA), said, “The NIRF serves as a govt-backed benchmark for institutional evaluation, helping institutions gain credibility and visibility among students, parents and other stakeholders.”He said the framework enables colleges to assess their performance against peers on parameters such as faculty qualifications, infrastructure, student diversity and graduation outcomes, while identifying areas requiring improvement.“To establish institutional accountability, all regular govt colleges meeting the eligibility criteria must participate in the upcoming NIRF India Rankings 2027. Colleges should complete registration and data entry on the NIRF portal as soon as the registration window opens,” Didel said.Institutions that have graduated at least three batches of undergraduate students and have run full-time postgraduate programmes for a minimum of two years are eligible to participate.Among Rajasthan institutions in the 2025 rankings, BITS Pilani improved from 23rd to 16th position, while IIT Jodhpur ranked 66th, MNIT Jaipur 77th and Manipal University Jaipur 98th. Officials hope greater participation by govt colleges will help improve their performance and attract better academic and infrastructure support.
