Students and colleges are waiting for the NIRF 2026 rankings. As of late September 2026, the Ministry of Education has not announced a release date. The 2025 edition came out on 4 September 2025, and past editions have often been released in the second half of the year. The rankings will be published on nirfindia.org.
NIRF 2025 engineering: the top three
Until the 2026 list is out, NIRF 2025 is the latest official ranking.
| Rank | Institute | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | IIT Madras | 88.72 |
| 2 | IIT Delhi | 85.74 |
| 3 | IIT Bombay | 83.65 |
IIT Madras has held the top spot in engineering for ten years in a row, every year since the rankings began in 2016.
Other colleges to watch in NIRF 2026
Beyond the IITs, these colleges on EduMap India had strong NIRF 2025 engineering ranks. It will be worth seeing whether they hold their places:
- IIT Hyderabad: rank 7
- SRMIST Chennai: rank 14
- Jadavpur University: rank 18
- Jamia Millia Islamia: rank 24
- DTU Delhi: rank 30
- IIEST Shibpur: rank 54
- NSUT Delhi: rank 70
- MSRIT Bangalore: rank 75
How NIRF ranks engineering colleges
NIRF scores institutes on five parameters: Teaching, Learning & Resources, Research & Professional Practice, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach & Inclusivity and Perception. Only the top 100 get an exact rank. Institutes below that are grouped into bands such as 101–150, 151–200 and 201–300, and listed alphabetically within each band.
How to use NIRF when choosing a college
- A rank is a starting point, not the answer. A college ranked 60 may suit you better than one ranked 40 because of branch, fees, location or placements in your field.
- Compare within your options. Your KCET, COMEDK, MHT CET or JEE rank decides which colleges are realistic, so rank those against each other.
- Check the band, not just the number. Colleges in the same band can be very close in score.
Use Compare Colleges to put up to three colleges side by side on fees, NIRF, placements and entrance exams.
We will update this post with the NIRF 2026 engineering list as soon as the Ministry of Education releases it.