Anna University participates in NIRF across multiple categories. The rankings discussed here cover the university as a whole, which includes the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) as its flagship campus and primary contributor to the engineering and research metrics.
NIRF 2025 Rankings at a Glance
NIRF 2025 results (released August 2025) place Anna University at:
The Engineering rank is sourced directly from the NIRF 2025 Engineering ranking list (Institute ID: IR-E-U-0439). The State Public University position is a separate category that compares government-funded universities only; within that pool Anna University scores 76.06 and stands second, overtaken by Jadavpur University (76.08) by a margin of 0.02 points.
Engineering Ranking Trend
The Engineering category is the most directly relevant for applicants to CEG. Comparing like-for-like data from the same publisher and same category:
The 2022 and 2023 editions placed Anna University at 13, its strongest recent performance in this category. The 2025 rank of 20 represents a slide of six places from 2024 and seven places from the 2022–23 peak. The score fell from 65.34 in 2024 to 63.51 in 2025, a drop of 1.83 points. Since NIRF combines five sub-parameters, Admission Guardian analysis of the 2025 score sheet shows the Graduation Outcomes (GO) component at 63.28 and Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) at 51.12 are the weakest contributors relative to the institution's own 2024 benchmarks, while Perception (60.73) remains moderate for a university of this standing.
The downward move from ranks 13–14 to rank 20 in 2025 is not trivial. Several of the institutions now ranked above Anna University in Engineering are newer IITs with rising research output scores. Whether the trend stabilises or continues to decline depends significantly on research publication volumes and industry-linked outcomes, both of which take years to shift materially.
Overall and University Category Trend
For the Overall category, Anna University moved from rank 20 in 2024 (score 62.77) to rank 29 in 2025 (score 60.06), a drop of nine places and 2.71 score points. In the University category it held rank 13 in 2024 and slipped to rank 20 in 2025. The NIRF Overall category includes all institution types, so the rank reflects performance against IITs, IISc, and large private universities simultaneously.
In the NIRF 2023 Overall rankings, Anna University was at rank 18. The 2024 position of 20 was already a mild slip from that. The 2025 drop to 29 accelerates the decline and is the largest single-year movement in the Overall category in recent cycles.
State Public University Category
NIRF introduced a dedicated State Public University category in 2024. In that first edition, Anna University ranked first in the category nationally. In 2025, Jadavpur University edged past with a score of 76.08 against Anna University's 76.06, pushing Anna to second. The 0.02-point gap makes a reversion to the top position plausible in the 2026 cycle, but no ranking direction can be guaranteed. For applicants comparing Anna University against other state-funded universities, the top-two position in this narrower pool is more meaningful context than the overall national rank, which benchmarks against institutions with very different resource profiles.
What the NIRF Scores Reflect
NIRF assigns weights across five parameters: Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RPC), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI), and Perception. For the 2025 Engineering ranking, Anna University's component scores are: TLR 69.43, RPC 62.80, GO 63.28, OI 51.12, Perception 60.73.
Two observations matter for applicants. First, the RPC score of 62.80 reflects a genuine research base, consistent with Anna University operating as a full university rather than a standalone engineering college; this score is higher than several NITs that rank above it in the Engineering list. Second, the OI score of 51.12 is the lowest among the five components and captures indicators such as women's enrolment ratios and economically weaker section representation, which are structural features unlikely to shift quickly.
Perception, at 60.73, is moderate. In NIRF methodology, Perception is gathered from employers and academics. For a university that affiliates nearly 800 colleges across Tamil Nadu and runs its own CEG campus, brand recognition is high regionally but the score suggests room for improvement in national peer assessment.
Accreditation: NAAC and NBA
Accreditation is separate from ranking but interacts with how institutions are assessed by recruiters and doctoral programmes. Anna University holds NAAC A++ accreditation (3rd cycle, CGPA 3.54 out of 4.00), valid from 21 August 2023 to 20 August 2030. A++ is the highest NAAC grade, awarded to fewer than ten institutions in the country.
At the programme level, several undergraduate engineering programmes at CEG carry NBA accreditation. According to current disclosures, B.E. Civil Engineering is accredited up to 30 June 2028; B.E. Computer Science and Engineering, B.E. Electronics and Communication Engineering, and B.E. Mechanical Engineering are each accredited up to 30 June 2029. NBA accreditation is programme-specific, not institution-wide, and is relevant primarily for Washington Accord and similar international recognition pathways.
How to Use These Rankings
For an applicant choosing between Anna University CEG and other top-20 engineering institutions, the NIRF data frames a few practical questions:
- Against IITs: The six IITs ranked above Anna University in NIRF 2025 Engineering (IIT Madras at #1 through IIT Patna at #19) all carry significantly higher RPC and TLR scores. If postgraduate research or faculty-intensive learning is a priority, those gaps are real.
- Against NITs: NIT Tiruchirappalli ranks #9 in NIRF 2025 Engineering with a score of 68.14, over four points ahead of Anna University's 63.51. NIT Rourkela at #13 (66.62) and NIT Karnataka Surathkal at #17 (64.59) also rank higher. Anna University's GO component is weaker than these NITs.
- State public context: Compared exclusively to other government-funded state universities, Anna University's #2 position in the State Public University category confirms it is among the strongest publicly funded university campuses for engineering in India, ahead of all other state universities except Jadavpur.
- Accreditation stability: The NAAC A++ grade (valid to 2030) and active NBA programme accreditations are not directly captured in NIRF scores but signal quality assurance processes that are independently verified.
NIRF rankings are published once per year, typically between July and August. The 2026 cycle results will reflect data submitted by institutions for the 2025–26 academic year and will be the next comparable data point.