New Delhi, October 19, 2025 — India’s higher education landscape is witnessing a transformation marked by substantial improvements in faculty qualifications, research productivity, and graduate employability, according to a comprehensive study released by KPMG in India. The report, which analyzed ten years of data from the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), reveals that systemic reforms and an emphasis on measurable outcomes have significantly elevated the quality and competitiveness of Indian universities and colleges.
The study, based on NIRF rankings across multiple categories, found that PhD-qualified faculty members now account for nearly 60% of teaching staff in India’s top 100 institutions in the overall category as of 2025 — up sharply from previous years. The proportion is even higher in specialized fields, with management institutions reporting over 90% PhD faculty and engineering colleges above 80%.
“Top-ranked institutions now report over 73% PhD faculty across most categories,” the report notes, underscoring a steady national shift toward research-oriented and highly qualified teaching staff. This reflects a decade-long trend driven by institutional upskilling, research incentives, and improved academic governance.
Expanding Doctoral Education Ecosystem
According to the KPMG analysis, India’s doctoral education ecosystem has expanded substantially over the past six years. PhD enrolments in universities have grown by 21%, from 97,947 in 2019 to 118,556 in 2025, while PhD completionssurged by 49%, rising from 16,403 to 24,481 during the same period. These trends, the report argues, point to better research supervision, enhanced infrastructure, and improved institutional efficiency.
Interestingly, universities ranked between 76 and 100 in the NIRF 2025 showed the fastest growth in new PhD enrolments, while top-tier universities led in the number of doctoral completions — suggesting that research momentum is spreading beyond India’s elite institutions.
Launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Education, the NIRF assesses institutions across five broad parameters: Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR); Research and Professional Practice (RP); Graduation Outcomes (GO); Outreach and Inclusivity (OI); and Perception (PR). The tenth edition of the rankings was released on September 4, 2025, capturing the growing maturity of India’s higher education system.
Surge in Research Publications and Patents
The KPMG report highlights a dramatic rise in India’s research output. Between 2018 and 2025, publication volumes increased by 150% in universities and engineering institutions, and by 300% in pharmacy and management schools. This surge has pushed India’s share of global research publications from 3.5% to 5.2%, reflecting the country’s growing role in the global academic ecosystem.
Top-ranked institutions in the overall and engineering categories have also demonstrated the ability to convert published patents into granted ones, a crucial marker of applied innovation. Moreover, the top 25 universities now receive nine times more sponsored research funding than those ranked between 76 and 100 — signaling growing collaboration between academia, industry, and government funding agencies.
In the foreword to the report, Narayanan Ramaswamy, National Leader for Education and Skill Development at KPMG in India, wrote that Indian institutions have “played a key role in tripling their patent filings from 2022 to 2024.” He attributed this acceleration to “strong government incentives and the NIRF’s research emphasis,” adding that this has helped position India “among the top six countries globally for patent activity.”
Global Recognition and Rising Rankings
The study notes that this research momentum is reflected in global university rankings as well. In the QS World University Rankings 2026, India is now the fourth most represented country with 54 institutions listed — a fivefold increase from 2015.
Anil Kumar Nassa, Member Secretary of the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), which oversees NIRF, said that the rankings framework has directly contributed to India’s growing international visibility. “This is the impact of NIRF, as institutes are focusing on improving research, perception, and teaching-learning quality,” he said, adding that more Indian universities are now featured in both the Times Higher Education (THE) and QS global rankings.
Participation in NIRF has surged by 217%, from 2,426 institutions in 2016 to 7,692 in 2025. The college category alone saw a 401% rise, from 803 participants to 4,030, reflecting increasing institutional interest in benchmarking and accountability.
Focus on Quality, Transparency, and Research Ethics
KPMG recommends that the NIRF framework evolve further by emphasizing research quality — measured by citation impact and societal relevance — rather than mere quantity of publications.
Nassa also emphasized the transparency of the ranking process. “All institutional data are publicly available for review,” he said. “We invite public feedback on submitted data, and even after rankings are announced, all information remains accessible on our website.” He added that negative marking has been introduced for violations of research ethics, ensuring greater accountability and integrity.
Performance Across Categories
KPMG’s NIRF 2025 Category-Specific Analysis confirms that public institutions continue to dominate the top positions. IISc Bengaluru, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and IIT Madras retained their leadership across the overall, university, and engineering categories, respectively.
Among private institutions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and BITS Pilani have emerged as strong contenders, steadily closing the gap with their public counterparts. In the college category, Delhi-based institutions — Hindu College, Miranda House, and Hansraj College — continued to lead, while states like Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Kerala accounted for 83% of the top 100 colleges in India.
The medical and management categories also showed greater diversity, with AIIMS Delhi and IIM Ahmedabadmaintaining top spots. The study notes that competitiveness has intensified to the point where “even a small score improvement can result in a 40-rank jump,” indicating how closely institutions are now matched in performance. Nearly all categories recorded score improvements from 2024, reflecting sector-wide progress.
Employability and Industry Linkages
One of the most encouraging findings of the report is the near doubling of median salaries for graduating students over the past five years. This, KPMG noted, indicates “stronger employability and greater employer confidence” in Indian graduates.
The improvement is largely driven by better skill alignment, structured internships, and robust industry collaborations, especially in management, engineering, and medical institutions. The study suggests that closer ties between academia and industry have enhanced both student readiness and corporate perception, bridging the traditional gap between education and employability.
Looking Ahead: Sustaining the Momentum
Reflecting on the decade-long evolution captured through NIRF data, V. Ramgopal Rao, Vice Chancellor of BITS Pilani, remarked that “ten years of NIRF data as analyzed by KPMG now offers a rare longitudinal view of how Indian higher educational institutions are performing.” While acknowledging ongoing challenges, he described the overall trend as “a positive one for higher education.” Rao added that “the next ten years can be transformative if the government is willing to make some bold reforms in higher education.”
The KPMG study concludes that data-driven governance, faculty upskilling, and sustained research investment are now central to the success of India’s higher education institutions. With rising global recognition, stronger industry linkages, and expanding doctoral and research output, India’s universities are increasingly positioned as contributors to innovation, not merely consumers of knowledge.
As the NIRF enters its second decade, the report suggests that India’s higher education system — long criticized for uneven quality — is beginning to demonstrate measurable, outcome-oriented progress. The challenge ahead, it says, will be to maintain integrity, deepen quality, and ensure that the momentum of research and learning translates into enduring societal impact.
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