India Today-MDRA Best Colleges Survey 2025

India Today

21-06-2025

Winds of change sweep India's higher education arena as new colleges rise up to the challenge
Enormous scale, lofty aspirations and enduring contradictions. That is the ongoing story of India's higher education system. Over the past few decades, it has expanded significantly, with tertiary education becoming accessible to a broader and more diverse segment of the youth population than ever before. Key milestones—such as a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 28.4 per cent, a favourable Gender Parity Index and a rising intake from socially disadvantaged groups—signal progress towards greater democratisation. The proliferation of academic spaces, including premier hubs like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), alongside a growing research footprint, reflects a country eager to claim its place on the global academic stage.
Yet this impressive growth in numbers masks persistent challenges in quality. And among the most significant is the risk that a narrow focus on excellence in a few elite institutions may deepen mediocrity across the rest. India's higher education ecosystem remains uneven, with stark contrasts between the long-established and the emerging colleges, between urban centres and smaller towns.
If there is one marker on which there is marked progress, it is in terms of global visibility. Over the past decade, India has recorded a 286 per cent increase in the number of institutions featured in global university rankings—reportedly the highest among G20 nations. In the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2026, India tops the continent with the most institutions (163) in the rankings; four Indian universities now feature in the Top 100.
But this international acclaim does not reflect the imbalance that lurks underneath. While India's top five institutions saw their average rank improve significantly—from 224 in the 2024 global QS rankings to 173 in the 2026 edition—the broader picture is less reassuring. Among the 54 Indian universities that feature in the global list, the average rank still hovers at a modest 452. This stark contrast underscores a critical point: the stellar performance of a few institutions risks obscuring the structural weaknesses that persist across the rest of the system. The gap between India's best and the bulk of its higher education system appears to be growing and, with it, the challenge of building a truly inclusive and uniformly excellent educational landscape.
The India Today Group's Best Colleges Survey for 2025 seeks to bridge this divide. For nearly three decades, this annual exercise has earned a reputation as the most credible and comprehensive assessment of the country's undergraduate colleges. Backed by a rigorous methodology, continuous innovation and an unwavering commitment to objectivity, the rankings are a crucial barometer for students, faculty, policymakers and industry leaders alike.
India Today, however, has never believed in resting on its laurels. In keeping with that pursuit of excellence, the Best Colleges survey has constantly tried to become better. Over the years, it has become evident that institutions with deep historical roots, many with outstanding faculty, cutting-edge infrastructure and a legacy of attracting top students, tend to dominate the top slots. While such performance is undoubtedly deserved, it risks overshadowing smaller or newer institutions that are making impressive strides.
To make amends for this, this year's edition introduces a new category: India's Most Improved Colleges. Across 14 streams—Arts, Science, Commerce, Medical, Dental, Engineering, Architecture, Law, Mass Communication, Hotel Management, BBA, BCA, Social Work and Fashion Design—we spotlight one college in each stream that has shown the greatest improvement in scores and rankings over the past five years (read methodology). This isn't just a tweak in rankings; it's a recognition of grit, reinvention and upward momentum.
The purpose of this initiative is twofold. First, it encourages healthy competition among colleges that may not have had a head start but have been working hard at closing the gap. Second, it expands the horizons of options for students and parents. Not making it into the so-called 'top' colleges is no longer a setback. There are now several emerging centres of excellence that offer a comparable, if not superior, educational experience. And that college may not necessarily be in a big city. For employers, this opens up new recruitment pools where raw, trainable talent is being put through the paces.
This new segment also seeks to address the long-standing regional imbalance in Indian higher education. Building a world-class system isn't only about expanding capacity. It's about ensuring equity and access across geographies. Today, a disproportionate number of top institutions are clustered in a handful of states. Bridging this regional divide requires deliberate and sustained effort. Our rankings reflect that: they go beyond metros to showcase promising institutions in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, many of which have climbed into the top 30. Quality, it seems, is finally allowing itself to be democratised.
The 2025 survey, as earlier, lists the top three colleges in each of several smaller cities, making this the most inclusive and granular assessment of India's higher education ecosystem. Unsurprisingly, the number of participating colleges has surged—from 988 in 2018 to 1,865 this year. Educators have credited this to the sparking of a competitive spirit even among remote institutions, offering them a tangible incentive to raise the bar.
These value additions align seamlessly with the founding philosophy of the India Today Best Colleges Survey: to highlight good practices, recognise excellence and capture emerging trends before they become mainstream. At the heart of this endeavour are those who matter the most—students and educators.
Over time, the survey has added several innovations to reflect the real-world choices students face. While institutional prestige matters, what students increasingly look for is departmental strength. The best college in a given stream may not have the top department in a specific subject, and vice versa. To help students navigate this, in 2023, we introduced a category for Best Colleges in Individual Subjects. In 12 disciplines across the arts and sciences—ranging from Economics and English to Chemistry and Sanskrit—we now assess departments based on objective data submitted by colleges.
The entire process rests on a granular evaluation of each college across five key parameters: 'Intake Quality and Governance', 'Academic Excellence', 'Infrastructure and Living Experience', 'Personality and Leadership Development' and 'Career Progression and Placement'. This metric of transparency helps students make informed choices based not just on reputation but on measurable outcomes.
One of the most pressing concerns for students and parents is the return on investment. What does a degree from a particular college translate into in terms of jobs and salaries? Our survey has been addressing this directly, highlighting colleges that offer the best placement packages, highest salary offers and lowest fees, allowing aspirants to balance aspiration with affordability.
India in 2025 stands at a demographic crossroads. With the world's largest youth population, the country has a fleeting window to convert its demographic dividend into economic gains. But this will only be possible if the young are educated and employable. A major concern is the low employability of graduates, with some recent estimates suggesting that fewer than half are job-ready.
Encouragingly, there is now a growing consensus that 'business as usual' is no longer enough. The convergence of political intent (as reflected in the National Education Policy 2020), technological disruption and societal demand for better learning outcomes has created a unique opportunity for systemic transformation. As has the disruption that US president Donald Trump is visiting upon American universities and their foreign students. At this momentous turn of history, the India Today Best Colleges Survey can both be a mirror and a map, a ready reckoner that charts where India's higher education stands today, and where it is headed tomorrow. It's not just a list. It's a tool for reform, reflection and renewal.
METHODOLOGY | HOW THE COLLEGES WERE RANKED
With over 58,000 colleges across India, this 29th annual edition of India Today Group's ranking of colleges in India intends to make critical career decisions easier for aspirants based on rich information and data. This ranking has come to be known as the gold standard for other stakeholders such as recruiters, parents, alumni, policy makers, public and institutions. Since 2018, this survey has been conducted in association with reputed Delhi-based market research agency Marketing & Development Research Associates (MDRA) and has been widely appreciated for its consistency. Colleges were ranked across 14 streams—Arts, Science, Commerce, Medical, Dental, Engineering, Architecture, Law, Mass Communication, Hotel Management, BBA, BCA, Social Work and Fashion Design.
During objective ranking, MDRA carefully attuned more than 112 performance indicators in each stream to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons of colleges. These indicators were clubbed into five broad parameters—'Intake Quality and Governance', 'Academic Excellence', 'Infrastructure and Living Experience', 'Personality and Leadership Development' and 'Career Progression and Placement'.
Moreover, to give more realistic, relevant and accurate information, MDRA evaluated colleges based on current year data. The ranking tables also give parameter-wise scores to provide deeper insights into key aspects of decision-making by various stakeholders. In addition, from 2023, the survey has come out with the first-ever ranking of colleges in major subjects, such as Economics, History, English, Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Hindi and Sanskrit based on the objective data submitted by the colleges.
THE RANKING WAS DONE IN MULTIPLE STEPS An extensive desk review of MDRA's database and secondary research was conducted to prepare a list of colleges in each stream. Only those colleges which have been offering full-time, in-classroom courses and churned out at least three pass-out batches till 2024 were considered. In 12 streams, undergraduate courses were ranked. In Mass Communication and Social Work, post-graduate courses were evaluated.
Experts with rich experience in their fields were consulted to frame the parameters and sub-parameters for different streams. Indicators critical for establishing the best colleges were meticulously determined, and their relative weights were finalised. For a year-on-year comparison the weightages of parameters have remained unchanged over the last two years.
Comprehensive objective questionnaires were designed for each of the 14 streams, taking into account the chosen performance indicators and were put up in the public domain—on the websites of India Today and MDRA. Our research partner directly contacted about 10,000 colleges that fulfilled the eligibility criteria, seeking objective data for verification. Attested soft copies were sought, and 1,865 eligible colleges submitted institutional data along with voluminous supporting documents within the stipulated deadline.
After receipt of the objective data from participating colleges, MDRA verified the information provided by them. In case of insufficient/incorrect data, respective colleges were asked to provide complete, correct and updated information.
A perceptual survey about these colleges was carried out among 1,854 well-informed respondents (563 senior faculty members, 310 recruiters/ professionals, 397 career accelerators and 584 final year students) across 27 cities, divided into four zones.
North: Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Faridabad, Lucknow, Kota, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar
East: Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Patna and Raipur
West: Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal and Nagpur
South: Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Coimbatore National and zonal rankings were taken from them in their respective field of experience and were given 75 per cent and 25 per cent weightages, respectively. They also rated the institutes on a 10-point rating scale on each of the five key parameters.
While computing objective scores, it was ensured that aggregate data alone was not used, and hence, data sets were normalised on the basis of the number of students for fair comparison. The total scores arrived at from the objective and perception surveys were added in the ratio of 60:40—for 11 professional courses—while a ratio of 50:50 was taken for academic courses—arts, science and commerce—to get the final combined score.
NEW ADDITION: MOST IMPROVED COLLEGES
A major highlight of this year's India Today-MDRA Best Colleges Survey is the introduction of a new category—'Most Improved Colleges'—recognising institutions that have made the greatest strides over time. This ranking captures the five-year growth trajectory of colleges across all 14 streams by analysing the change in their relative positions in the annual rankings from 2020 to 2025. It focuses on the percentage improvement in rank, thereby offering a dynamic perspective on institutional performance, rather than a static snapshot.
The college that records the highest percentage rise in rank over the five-year period is placed at the top of this list, followed by others in decreasing order of improvement. This new category is a testament to the transformative efforts made by educational institutions to enhance their standing and quality, and it offers a fresh lens through which aspirants, parents, recruiters and policymakers can assess sustained institutional development. An experienced and large team of researchers, statisticians and analysts worked on this project. The MDRA core team, led by Abhishek Agrawal (Executive Director), comprised Abnish Jha (Project Director), Vaibhav Gupta (Deputy Research Manager), Robin Singh (Assistant Research Executive), Rishav Sharma (Assistant Research Executive) and Manveer Singh (Assistant Manager EDP).