JNU has held on to the second spot in the government’s ranking of universities this year while the Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University have improved their places despite all three facing campus turmoil and government attempts to dilute their character.
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has topped the education ministry’s ranking of varsities under the National Institutional Ranking Framework this year.
Delhi’s Miranda House has topped the rankings for colleges for the fifth straight year.
IIT Madras tops the “overall institution” category, followed by IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, JNU and Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
Among the top universities are BHU (third), Amrita Viswa Vidyapeetham (fifth), Jamia (sixth), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (seventh), Hyderabad University (ninth) and AMU (10th). Jamia was 10th last year while AMU was 17th, while JNU has held on to the second spot for the fifth year.
The performances by JNU, Jamia and AMU demonstrate the quality of their research and teaching despite the controversies. JNU students have been stigmatised as the “tukde tukde gang” by the Right-wing ecosystem while the government plans to widely introduce undergraduate courses in the varsity.
The Centre has decided not to support Jamia’s minority status and taken a stand against AMU’s minority status in court. Both Jamia and JNU faced assaults on campus — by the police and alleged Right-wing goons, respectively — amid the anti-CAA protests in the winter of 2019-20.
Delhi University has dropped one place to 12th but five of its colleges figure among the top 10 colleges, implying DU is the best destination for undergraduates. While Miranda House has topped, Lady Shri Ram College for Women has ranked second. St Stephen’s College, Hindu College and Shri
Ram College of Commerce bring up the 8th, 9th and 10th places.
Loyola College, Chennai, is third; P.S.G.R. Krishnammal College for Women has ranked 6th and Presidency College, Chennai, 7th. Twelve DU colleges are among the top 20.
