The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras retained the top spot among institutes in the country for the fourth consecutive year whereas the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru was the best university and research institution, according to the Ministry of Education's National Institutional Ranking Framework rankings.

The seventh edition of NIRF rankings was announced on Friday by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) -- IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee and IIT Guwahati-- figured in the top 10 in the overall rankings.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Jawaharlal Nehru University were ranked ninth and tenth in the overall rankings.

In the universities category, IISc Bengaluru bagged the top spot followed by JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia at second and third rank.

The BHU, which was ranked third last year in the category, slipped to the sixth position this year.

Jadavpur University, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Calcutta University, Vellore Institute of Technology and University of Hyderabad, bagged the subsequent positions in the universities category.

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Eight IITs -- Madras, Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee, Guwahati and Hyderabad -- have figured among the top ten ranks in the engineering institutions category.

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirapalli -- which was ranked ninth last year -- has bagged the eighth spot this year while NIT Surathkal has retained its 10th position.

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Among colleges, Miranda House retained its spot as the best college in the country followed by Hindu College which has improved its rank to make it to the second spot from the ninth position last year. Lady Sri Ram College for Women slipped to fifth rank from the second spot last year while Presidency College, Chennai climbed to the third spot from the seventh position.

Loyola College in Chennai has slipped to the fourth spot from third rank.

Delhi University's noted colleges St. Stephens and SRCC, which figured into the top ten list last year, found no mention in this year's rankings.

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IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta retained their first, second and third rank respectively among the B-Schools in the country.

In the pharmacy category, the top institute is Delhi's Jamia Hamdard, followed by the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hyderbad and Panjab University, Chandigarh which slipped to the third position from second rank.

In the medical colleges category, AIIMS, Delhi bagged the top spot, followed by PGIMER Chandigarh and Christian Medical College, Vellore.

Among the dental colleges, Saveetha Institute of Medical And Technical Sciences, Chennai; Manipal College of Dental Sciences and DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune were the top three institutions.

The ranking framework evaluates institutions on five broad generic groups of parameters of Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) and Perception (PR).

Ranks are assigned based on the total sum of marks assigned for each of these five broad groups of parameters.