Jadavpur University has ranked second among state public universities and St Xavier’s College 6th among colleges in India in an annual ranking exercise conducted by the Union education ministry.

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara, has ranked third among colleges, according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list announced on Monday. The college stood 8th last year.

Jadavpur University, which has been battling crippling resource constraints in the absence of adequate funding from the state and central governments, has ranked second in the category called “State Public University”, which was introduced this year by the ministry.

State public universities refer to universities funded by state governments.

Calcutta University has ranked 4th in this category.

Till last year, state and central universities and centrally funded institutes would be clubbed under the category “University”.

In the “University” category, which has been retained, JU has slipped to 9th position from 4th last year and CU has slipped to 18th from 12th last year.

JU had ranked 10th among engineering colleges last year. This time, its rank is 12th.

JU registrar Snehamanju Basu said the ranking, particularly among state public universities, represents a public institution’s triumph.

JU with a score of 77.74 out of 100 is next to Anna University in Tamil Nadu, whose score is 78.14.

JU interim VC Bhaskar Gupta told Metro he was pleased with the rankings given what the university had to go through over the past year.

“The university has been functioning without a full-term VC since June 2023. The university’s highest decision-making body, executive council, could not meet most of the time during this period. There was a complete policy paralysis. It was because of the teachers and students that JU still could come up with a stellar performance,” said Gupta.

Calcutta University registrar Debasish Das said: “We are happy with the performance given the turbulent period we are passing through.”

CU, too, is being helmed by an officiating VC.

Father Dominic Savio, principal, St Xavier’s College, said: “It is a matter of pride for us that we have featured among the top 10 over the past few years. Although we have slipped to 6th this year, our score has improved.”

Last year, St Xavier’s College stood 5th with a score of 70.80 out of 100. This year the college has scored 72.15.

Vivekananda Centenary College principal Swami Kamalasthananda attributed the improvement in ranking to better performance by the teachers and students.

RK Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, which had ranked 15th last year among colleges, is 17th this year.