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Best of 71 law schools in India: NLSIU barely, then NLU Delhi, then Nalsar, says Gov’t (NLU-J, NUJS trail)

NIRF law school 2018 ranking sees NLU Delhi overtake nearly everyone
NIRF law school 2018 ranking sees NLU Delhi overtake nearly everyone

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD)’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), has ranked public law and other schools, according to the NIRF website, with NLSIU Bangalore topping a list out of 71 law schools that applied.

The ranking has been a long-time coming, as we had reported in 2015.

Rankings upset?

The biggest possible surprise: it ranked relative newcomer NLU Delhi just barely behind NLSIU Bangalore, but ahead of Nalsar Hyderabad.

In fact, NLSIU’s score of 75.79 is just a whisker ahead of NLU Delhi, at 74.58 (Nalsar Hyderabad scored 70.59).

Also perhaps a surprise: IIT Kharagpur took the fourth spot with a total score of 67.07 (we’re not currently sure if that’s a ranking of purely the law faculty on its own strength, though it excelled in all individual metrics except its “perception score”, which was a measly 15.33, nearly the lowest out of the 10 law schools ranked; NLSIU landed a “perception” score of 100, by contrast).

NLU Jodhpur meanwhile, only made it to fifth (with 63.5), ahead of Jamia Milia Islamia University (at 59.17).

NUJS Kolkata trailed in 7th place in the rankings, with a score of 59.17, closely followed by RMLNLU Lucknow with a score of 54.82.

Symbiosis Law School, SLS Pune was not far behind, in 9th place with a score of 54.25, followed by _Dr. B. R. Ambedkar College_ in Visakhapatnam, with a score of 50.93.

Quality of quality ranking?

At least superficially, the rankings appear to be more transparent and solidly researched that most magazine and other law school rankings (which we have pretty much stopped covering because they were so bad). However, we’re still reading through the fine print and will update this article once we’ve done so (please do let us know in comments if you have any feedback or criticism of the methodology - and talking of comments, please keep it nice rather than just insulting colleges).

The rankings comprise of scores in: teaching learning & resources, research & professional practice, graduation outcomes, outreach & inclusivity, and perception. And each ranked college entry also links to a PDF, which has a copy of what appear to be a college’s submissions, as well as a very cryptic bar chart (see below):

NLSIU NIRF’s arcane bar chart showing, um, something?
NLSIU NIRF’s arcane bar chart showing, um, something?

Update 21:02: Indeed, as some readers have pointed out, some of the “median salary of placed graduates” figures supplied by the top colleges are a bit suspect. NLSIU has stated Rs 14.5 lakh as its median salary, which might just about work if blending in foreign law firm salary packages plus promised maximum salaries at some Indian top tier firms.

NLU Delhi, however, has quoted Rs 15 lakh as its median salary, while Nalsar (which scored 3 foreign law firm jobs in 2017) has cited a whopping Rs 18 lakh as its median.

If you recall Legally India’s campus recruitments coverage of last year, there’s really not much to tell the top law schools’ recruitment apart, though NLU Delhi would be slightly weaker than NLSIU (which scored 4 foreign law firm jobs in 2015 - I just noticed, could it be we don’t have any final recruitment stats for NLSIU after 2015?).

But some Nalsarites have perhaps justifiably long claimed that their recruitment results are better than NLSIU, which is also reflected in the “graduation outcomes” figures of NIRF (though how much of that is due to Nalsar’s purported Rs 18 lakh median, is hard to say).

NLIU Bhopal did not apply to be ranked

The full list of law schools that applied is here.

One obvious ones that did not seem to have applied: NLIU Bhopal. Perhaps the change of guard in the college administration is to blame.

But by next year, it will be mandatory for public universities to take part according to NDTV.

Update: GNLU Gandhinagar also appears to be missing from the list of 71 law schools that applied.

NLU Delhi’s rise

NLU Delhi under Prof Ranbir Singh has managed to sidestep the traditional national law school rankings completely, by having had its own admissions test since inception, which has also become rather competitive.

This has allowed it avoid the hyper-competitive Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) battle against most NLU preferences, have barely changed at all in the last decade according to our recurring analysis of CLAT taker preferences through the ages.

Some will no doubt cry foul at this, or even allege that NLU Delhi’s proximity to the seats of power has helped it win it second place, but it’s hard not to admit that NLU Delhi as a whole has been doing pretty well by most metrics.

Full top 10 ranking with NIRF scores in each category

RankLaw schoolTotal scoreTeaching Learning & ResourcesResearch & Professional PracticeGraduation OutcomesOutreach & InclusivityPerception
1NLSIU Bangalore75.7987.4632.7677.7864.45100
2NLU Delhi74.5893.3152.5662.5273.2164.24
3Nalsar Hyderabad70.9578.1330.4589.5374.5852.9
4IIT Kharagpur67.0774.7376.6171.4662.8715.33
5NLU Jodhpur63.573.5433.7775.5360.5140.9
6Jamia Millia Islamia59.9157.4251.3972.5668.3242.61
7NUJS Kolkata59.1764.9634.0563.1264.0458.96
8RMLNLU Lucknow54.8266.47079.0438.9145.82
9SLS Pune54.2552.247.480.0273.548.8
10Dr BR Ambedkar College of Law50.9375.756.0656.0248.668.37

Source: NIRF

Full list of 71 law colleges that applied

  • Acharaya Nagarjuna University Guntur Andhra Pradesh
  • AISECT University Bhopal Madhya Pradesh
  • Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Uttar Pradesh
  • All Saints Christain Law College Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
  • Allahabad Degree College Allahabad Uttar Pradesh
  • Amity University Kolkata West Bengal
  • Amity University Gautam Budh Nagar Uttar Pradesh
  • Andhra University Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
  • Aurora`s Legal Sciences Institute Nalgonda Telangana
  • Bharati Vidyapeeth`s New Law College Sangli Maharashtra
  • Bharati Vidyapeeth`s New Law College Kolhapur Maharashtra
  • Bharati Vidyapeeth`s Yashwantrao Chavan Law College Malkapur Maharashtra
  • C. U. Shah University Wadhwan City Gujarat
  • Career Law College Bhopal Madhya Pradesh
  • Chanderprabhu Jain College of Higher Studies & School of Law Delhi Delhi
  • Chankaya National Law University Patna Bihar
  • D. S. R. Hindu College of Law Machilipatnam Andhra Pradesh
  • Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
  • DES Shri. Navalmal Firodia Law College, Fergusson College Campus Pune Maharashtra
  • Desh Bhagat University Gobindgarh Punjab
  • Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya Indore Madhya Pradesh
  • Devi Sharvani Education Society`s V.M. Salgaocar College of Law Miramar North Goa Goa
  • Dr. B. R. Ambedkar College of Law Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
  • Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Srikakulam Andhra Pradesh
  • Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University Aurangabad Maharashtra
  • Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow Lucknow Uttar Pradesh
  • Government D. B. K. K. Singh Arts & Commerce College Raipur Chhattisgarh
  • Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya Bilaspur Chhattisgarh
  • Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University New Delhi Delhi
  • Imailsaheb Mulla Law College Satara Maharashtra
  • Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur West Bengal
  • Indian Law Institute New Delhi Delhi
  • Institute of Law, Nirma University Ahmedabad Gujarat
  • J. S. S. Law College Mysore Karnataka
  • Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi Delhi
  • K. K. C. College of Law Chittoor Andhra Pradesh
  • Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Bhubaneswar Odisha
  • Marathwada Legal`s & General Education Society`s Manikchand Pahade Law College Aurangabad Maharashtra
  • Mody Institute of Education and Research Lakshmangarh Rajasthan
  • Mysore University Mysore Karnataka
  • N. E. F. Law College Kamrup Assam
  • Nalsar University of Law Hyderabad Telangana
  • National Law School of India University Bengaluru Karnataka
  • National Law University Cuttack Odisha
  • National Law University New Delhi Delhi
  • National Law University and Judicial Academy Kamrup Metropolitan Assam
  • National Law University Jodhpur Jodhpur Rajasthan
  • New Law College Pune Maharashtra
  • Panjab University Chandigarh Chandigarh
  • Presidency University Bengaluru Karnataka
  • Progressive Educational Society`s Modern Law College Pune Maharashtra
  • RNB Global University Bikaner Rajasthan
  • S. D. M. Law College Mangaluru Karnataka
  • S. S. M. Law College Jalgoan Maharashtra
  • Saveetha School of Law Thiruvallur Tamil Nadu
  • Shanmugha Arts Science Technology & Research Academy Thanjavur Tamil Nadu
  • Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University Gurgaon Haryana
  • Smt. Velagapudi Durgamba Siddhardha Law Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh
  • SRM University Delhi - NCR Sonepat Haryana
  • SVKM`s Pravin Gandhi College of Law Mumbai Maharashtra
  • Symbiosis Law School Pune Maharashtra
  • Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University Chennai Tamil Nadu
  • Tamil Nadu National Law School Tiruchirappalli Tamil Nadu
  • Teerthanker Mahaveer University Moradabad Uttar Pradesh
  • The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University Agartala Tripura
  • The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law Patiala Punjab
  • The Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University Nagpur Maharashtra
  • The West Bengal National University of Juridicial Sciences Kolkata West Bengal
  • University of Jammu Jammu Tawi Jammu and Kashmir
  • University of Petroleum and Energy Studies Dehradun Uttarakhand
  • Uttaranchal University Dehradun Uttarakhand

Assessment parameters

The NIRF website also has some pretty detailed methodology documents, links pasted below, which explain the origin of each data point in the cryptic bar chart above.

And there is a 36-page PDF with detailed methodology, entitled Methodology for Ranking of Academic Institutions in India 2017.

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