Kerala becomes first state to launch its own institutional ranking framework

Kerala has made history by becoming the first state to introduce its own ranking system for higher education institutions. On May 3, 2023, the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) launched the Kerala Institutional Ranking Framework (KIRF), which is based on the lines of the National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF).

KIRF aims to introduce a more democratic and secular approach to the ranking system in the state.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a ranking system created by the Indian government in 2015 to evaluate higher education institutions



across India.

However, the government of Kerala felt the need to develop its own ranking system that would reflect the socio-cultural heritage and values of the state. As a result, the Kerala Institutional Ranking Framework (KIRF) was born.

"Kerala envisages the formation of a state-level institutional ranking framework without altering the core qualities and components of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). It is inevitable to patronise the socio-cultural heritage and values that the state has sculpted over the period of its democratic era," the official statement says.