Higher Education Minister R. Bindu formally launched the Kerala Institutional Ranking Framework (KIRF), modelled on the lines of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), to assess the quality of higher education institutions in the State.

• The Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) will be the implementing agency of the annual ranking exercise.
• The State has become the first in the country to establish a State-specific ranking framework for its higher education institutions by way of the initiative. 
• The ranking framework will classify the participating institutions as universities, colleges, engineering, management, architecture, medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, law and teacher education institutions. They will also compete against each other to determine overall rankings.