IISc Bangalore best university, Miranda House top college: HRD ministry rankings

Delhi’s Miranda House and Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science are India’s best college and university, a countrywide government ranking of educational institutions said on Monday.

Loyola College in Chennai and Shri Ram College were the second and third-best colleges in India, said the survey of “general degree” colleges by the human resource development ministry. . This is the first time colleges have been ranked.

Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University – which was at the centre of a storm on nationalism last year – was ranked second among universities while Banaras Hindu University secured third position. Seven IITs were among the top 10 in the overall ranking category.

Indian Institute of Technology-Madras was the top engineering school while Jamia Hamdard was judged the best pharmacy institute. Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad was adjudged the finest management institute.

Kolkata’s Jadavpur University – whose students have also faced criticism for being “anti-national” – was ranked fifth among universities.

“Jadavpur and JNU haven’t got good ranking for raising slogan for Afzal Guru but for doing good work,” human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Massive protests had swept JNU and various parts of India after student leaders were arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly attending an anti-India event that commemorated 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

JNU stands tall again with its focus on academic excellence. First among central universities. https://t.co/lb9jf2qp8O

— M. Jagadesh Kumar (@mamidala90) April 3, 2017

The rankings are crucial because government funding for institutions are dependent on them. Schools that do well in the NIRF will also be favourably viewed for greater autonomy and more international exposure, the government said.

More than 3,300 institutes were considered for the survey, which was first published in 2016 but didn’t include colleges because the response was poor. Prominent colleges that didn’t apply this year included Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, Hindu College, Delhi School of Economics, Ramjas College and Hansraj College, among others.

The institutes were marked on 20 parameters under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) that was launched last year.

The criteria used to rank the institutions included teaching/learning resources, research, graduation outcomes (employability), outreach/ social and gender inclusivity and perception. The government said it emphasised on the quality of research and employer perception during the exercise.

Top colleges:

1) Miranda House, Delhi

2) Loyola College, Chennai

3) Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi

Top universities:

1) IISc, Bangalore

2) JNU, New Delhi

3) BHU, Varanasi

First Published: Apr 03, 2017 14:41 IST