The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna, one of the premier healthcare institutions in Bihar, had a mixed performance in the NIRF 2025 rankings. While it retained a respectable position in the medical category at 27th place, its standing in the overall rankings slipped into the 101–150 band, indicating both strengths and challenges ahead.

AIIMS Patna continues to be a vital lifeline for patients across eastern India. With its advanced medical facilities, affordable treatment, and growing research output, it has established itself as a trusted center for healthcare. The institute has been expanding departments, upgrading diagnostic infrastructure, and introducing specialized treatment units. Its medical faculty and students are also increasingly contributing to clinical research, publications, and healthcare innovations.

However, the slight dip in overall ranking highlights certain areas that need attention. Compared to older AIIMS campuses such as Delhi and Bhubaneswar, AIIMS Patna still faces faculty shortages, limited global collaborations, and fewer postgraduate research opportunities. Experts note that while patient care has improved significantly, scaling up research funding and international tie-ups will be essential to match global standards.

Despite these challenges, AIIMS Patna remains one of Bihar’s most important medical and academic institutions, playing a dual role—providing world-class healthcare while training the next generation of doctors. Its journey in NIRF rankings reflects both progress and the road ahead for medical excellence in Bihar.

IIT Patna has recorded a major achievement in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025, making one of the steepest climbs in the country. The institute jumped from the 73rd position in 2024 to 36th place this year in the overall category. This dramatic improvement has placed IIT Patna as the only institution from Bihar to feature among India’s top 100 higher education institutes.

The progress was even more striking in the engineering category, where IIT Patna advanced from 34th to 19th place. This shows the institute’s growing strength in technical education and research. It also secured the 39th position among research institutions, underlining its efforts to strengthen innovation, projects, and collaborations.

The institute’s performance across NIRF parameters reflects a balanced growth. Strong results in teaching, learning, and graduation outcomes contributed significantly to the higher scores. While research indicators also improved, the institute still has scope to raise its perception score, which measures reputation among peers and the public.

IIT Patna’s rise carries broader importance for Bihar. Despite having a number of universities and professional colleges, most institutions from the state continue to remain outside the top 100. Institutes such as AIIMS Patna, NIT Patna, and BAU Sabour showed mixed results this year, with rankings largely stable or slipping slightly. Against this backdrop, IIT Patna’s success demonstrates how a single institution can raise the state’s profile in national education rankings.

For students and faculty, the improvement brings not only recognition but also new opportunities. Higher rankings often attract better research funding, stronger industry partnerships, and more competitive student placements. The challenge ahead will be to sustain this momentum and encourage other institutions in Bihar to follow the same path of consistent growth.

The Ministry of Education released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025 list, marking a decade of India’s effort to benchmark higher education institutions across categories. The rankings once again spotlighted the dominance of IITs and IISc, while also signaling the growing strength of private and young institutes.

For the tenth consecutive year, IIT Madras claimed the top spot in both Overall and Engineering categories, cementing its reputation as India’s premier hub of technology and innovation. IISc Bengaluru continued its unbroken streak as the No. 1 university, known globally for research excellence. In a historic first, a private university—Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka—entered the top three universities, showing the rising role of private players in higher education.

The management category brought surprises. IIM Nagpur leapt to the 25th rank, entering the elite club of top 25 management schools within a decade of its establishment. IIM Sambalpur made one of the sharpest jumps, climbing to 34th place. These performances underline the growing relevance of new-generation IIMs in India’s B-school ecosystem.

At the state level, Tamil Nadu emerged as the clear leader, with 33 colleges in the Top 100, edging out Delhi with 32. This reflects the state’s strong higher education network spanning engineering, medical, and arts colleges. In contrast, Maharashtra’s tally remained unchanged at 11, raising questions about stagnation in its higher education progress.

Among state universities, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology (GJUST), Hisar, earned distinction as Haryana’s No. 1 public university, ranked 32nd nationally and securing strong positions in pharmacy, management, and engineering categories.

The NIRF 2025 rankings, spanning engineering, management, medicine, law, pharmacy, and overall categories, show a blend of continuity and disruption: while old giants like IIT Madras and IISc hold their ground, new institutions are breaking into elite spaces, setting the stage for a more diverse higher education landscape in India.