NIMHANS is a government Institute of National Importance in Bengaluru, Karnataka, dedicated exclusively to mental health and neurosciences. Formed in 1974 by the merger of the Government of Mysore's Mental Hospital with the Government of India's All India Institute of Mental Health, it was declared a Deemed University by the UGC in 1994 and an Institute of National Importance by a dedicated Act of Parliament in 2012. Spread across a 131-acre central campus on Hosur Road, NIMHANS runs a 1,000-bed NABH-accredited teaching hospital alongside 28 academic departments offering over 90 postgraduate, super-specialty, doctoral, and select undergraduate programmes in psychiatry, neurology, neurosurgery, clinical psychology, psychiatric social work, nursing, and allied neurosciences.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Government, Institute of National Importance, Deemed University |
| Location | Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029 |
| Established | 1974 (merger of Mysore Mental Hospital and All India Institute of Mental Health) |
| NAAC grade | A++ (CGPA 3.86) |
| Official website | nimhans.ac.in |
NIMHANS does not run an MBBS programme and is not a general medical college; it is a postgraduate- and doctoral-level super-specialty institute. Its official site lists over 90 courses across 28 departments, including MD (e.g. Psychiatry), MS, super-specialty DM (e.g. Neurology) and MCh (e.g. Neurosurgery), post-doctoral fellowships, PhD, MPhil in Clinical Psychology and Psychiatric Social Work, MSc, diploma programmes, and select undergraduate courses in specific allied-health disciplines. Exact department-wise seat counts, current fee figures, and the full undergraduate course list are not itemised on the public course listing page (which links out to downloadable UG/PG prospectus PDFs rather than an on-page table), so they are left unconfirmed here rather than sourced from aggregator listings.
Admission to MD, MS, DM, and MCh programmes runs through INI-CET (Institutes of National Importance Combined Entrance Test) and INI-SS for super-specialty seats, both conducted by AIIMS New Delhi, since NIMHANS shares this common admission route with other Institutes of National Importance rather than using state or all-India NEET-PG/MCC counselling. Admission routes for PhD, MPhil, MSc, diploma, and undergraduate seats are set independently by NIMHANS and published in its own yearly UG/PG prospectus.
NIMHANS is ranked 7th in NIRF's Medical category for 2025, confirmed directly on the institute's own Awards and Rankings page; independent NIRF-2025 reporting places its Medical score at 69.77 and its Overall-category rank at 60 (score 54.28). NAAC has accredited NIMHANS at grade A++ with a CGPA of 3.86.
The same official page lists several non-NIRF recognitions: the WHO Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion (2024), a listing among Newsweek's World's Best Hospitals (2021 and 2022), 2nd position in the Education World India Higher Education Rankings 2022-23 (Natural & Life Sciences incl. Medicine category), 4th Best Medical University in the India Today-MDRA Best Universities Survey 2021, and Kayakalp Scheme awards from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for hospital sanitation and hygiene standards.
The official site lists multiple on-campus hostels, including Cauvery Hostel, Bhadra Hostel, the Kabini Hostel Complex, Vedavathi (New Kabini) Hostel, Nethravathi (Nurses) Hostel, Sharavathi (New Nurses) Hostel, Thunga Hostel, Bhavani Hostel (Kabini Annexe), Kapila Hostel, and Bhima Hostel, governed by the NIMHANS Hostel Rules and Regulations, 2022. Priority for single-occupancy rooms follows a defined order: post-doctoral fellows first, then senior PhD scholars, followed by MPhil and MSc students on single/double-sharing rooms without attached bathrooms, with visiting trainees from other institutions accommodated on a sharing basis subject to availability. The 131-acre central campus houses the 1,000-bed NABH-accredited teaching hospital, a seven-floor Sub-Speciality Block with 125 beds and dedicated operation theatres, round-the-clock emergency and neurosurgical units, and NABL-accredited laboratories across all departments.
Governed by the NIMHANS Act, 2012, placing it in the same statutory category as AIIMS, PGIMER, and JIPMER; admission to MD/MS/DM/MCh runs through INI-CET, the shared entrance test for Institutes of National Importance, conducted by AIIMS New Delhi.
Accredited by NAAC with a CGPA of 3.86, among the highest grades awarded to any Indian institution.
Ranked 7th in NIRF's Medical category for 2025, per the institute's own Awards and Rankings page.
28 academic departments and 90+ programmes spanning MD, MS, DM, MCh, PhD, MPhil (Clinical Psychology), MSc, diplomas, and select undergraduate courses, all under one roof.
Training happens inside a working 1,000-bed NABH-accredited hospital that treats over half a million patients a year, giving trainees direct exposure across nearly 20 specialised clinics.
| Framework | Category | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIRF | Medical | 2025 | #7 |
Campus size, faculty strength, hostel facilities, and academic infrastructure.
