Miranda, Hindu country’s top two colleges; Delhi University’s rank rises (2024)

Delhi University’s (DU) Miranda House remained the best college in the country for the seventh year in a row, according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023, which released the rankings on Monday.

Among the top 10 were also four other DU colleges, including Hindu College, which retained the second position for the second consecutive year. It was followed by Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma (ARSD) College, which stood ranked sixth, while Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) and Kirori Mal College jointly shared the ninth position.

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Last year too, five colleges of DU were in the top 10 list.

Meanwhile, Delhi University failed to secure a place in the top 10 universities of the country even as its position bumped up by two places this year.

Miranda House issued a statement on Monday following the release of the rankings.

“Miranda House is humbled to be recognized as rank one among colleges in the prestigious NIRF 2023 for a seventh consecutive year. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the entire Miranda House family – students, teachers, staff and alumni for this phenomenal achievement. This position is a testimony to the support received from our governing body members,” it said.

Principal of Hindu Colleges, Anju Srivastava, attributed the college’s second rank to its all-round efforts aimed at holistic development of students.

“This is a constant process as several parameters are involved. We intend to increase the flexibility and choices in our courses as well as possibility of employment, which we hope will help us in improving our score further,” she said.

NIRF judges colleges on the basis of five key parameters — Teaching, Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practice; Graduation Outcomes; Outreach and Inclusivity and Peer Perception. While the first parameter is given the most weightage at 0.40, the second and third parameters are given a weightage of 0.15 and 0.25, respectively. The last two parameters have a weightage of 0.10 each.

What helped ARSD College to increase its rank by a place this year was improving perception and carrying out detailed academic research, its principal Gyantosh Jha said. “A major aspect that helped us were the several research papers which were published in international journals,” Jha said.

Meanwhile, ranking of LSR, one of the most sought after DU colleges, dropped from fifth last year to ninth this year. The position was shared by Kirorimal College, which, meanwhile, stood a place up than last year.

DU also saw an improvement in its rank as it went up by two positions this year, securing the 11th position in the list of universities. In a statement, DU vice-chancellor, Professor Yogesh Singh, congratulated the efforts of all stakeholders. “This is the result of the collective efforts of teachers, students, principals, staff and everyone associated with DU,” Singh said.

Among the universities in Delhi which made to the top 10 list are Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia, both retaining their last year’s rankings of second and third, respectively. Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru topped the list. Jamia vice-chancellor Professor Najma Akhtar said, “We have been constantly on our mettle making efforts to improve the quality of teaching, learning and research in the university,” she said.

In the engineering category, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi stood at the third position in the overall category of the NIRF rankings 2023. Professor P.V. Rao, Dean, Planning, and Head Rankings Cell, IIT-Delhi, said, “IIT Delhi has been consistently doing exceedingly well in the NIRF rankings...The research contributions made by IIT Delhi faculty and researchers have played a key role in the rankings of the institute.”