Page 67 - EW May 2025

and #1 in south India — are included.
Dr. (Prof.) Monojit Ray,
Principal and Controller of Exami-
nations at BRSC, Kolkata which
hosts 5,250 students mentored by
145 faculty, is very pleased that BRSC
has retained its #9 rank of 2024-25,
and particularly its #1 rank in West
Bengal (pop.109 million).
“It’s very encouraging that BRSC
has been ranked in the national Top
10 and #1 in Bengal for the past five
years. This is proof that we have at-
tained and retained high standards.
I am especially pleased with our
good scores under the parameters of
competence of faculty, curriculum
and pedagogy, and infrastructure.
This indicates that our high quality
and motivated faculty engagingly
BRSC, Kolkata’s Dr. Monojit Ray (centre): five years #1 in West Bengal provides well-developed curriculums
in a higher education institution
Central government. In the Union to the high quality of education with supportive, enabling infrastruc-
Budget 2025-26, Rs.16,146 crore has provided at St. Stephen’s. Our satis- ture. Our goal is to provide students
been allocated for Central govern- fied highly-qualified faculty teaches an all-round education experience
ment universities (apart from IITs beyond the curriculum to ensure ev- that will transform them into good
and NITs). An estimated 50 percent ery student gets globally comparable citizens,” says Ray, an alum of the
of this amount is for Delhi University undergrad education. This combina- Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda
(DU) and its constituent colleges tion of factors adds up to make St. Central College and Western Calcutta
enabling them to provide excellent Stephen’s #1. Our graduates shine University who served a long stint as
infrastructure and faculty at rock- in every area of human endeavour faculty with the Navdeep Vidya Sagar
bottom tuition fees to mainly urban — the arts, business, NGOs, bureau- College, Kolkata (1999-2016) prior to
middle class students. For several cracy, education, you name it. Some- being appointed principal of BRSC.
years, EducationWorld has been one from St. Stephen’s is making a Beyond the Top 10 and within
advocating means-tested, targeted positive difference somewhere,” says the Top 20, the status quo has been
— instead of universally prescribed — Varghese, an alum of Loyola College, largely maintained in the EW league
tuition fees in higher education which Chennai and English and Foreign table 2025-26 of India’s 136 most
would increase the income flow of af- Languages University, Hyderabad reputed private non-autonomous
filiated colleges and free government appointed principal of St. Stephen’s ASC colleges. The exceptions are
resources for public primary/second- in 2016. Currently, this college has Maitreyi College, Delhi promoted
ary education. Alas, to no avail. 1,247 students on its muster roll. to #11 from #15 in 2024-25 and the
Nevertheless despite not hav- With Delhi University’s big budget D.G. Ruparel College of Arts,
ing been granted autonomy and enabling it to provide excellent infra- Science & Commerce, Mumbai
rights of self-administration, Prof. structure that attracts highest qual- which has been awarded a big promo-
John Varghese, Principal of the ity faculty, DU’s affiliated colleges tion to #12 (28) by this year’s sample
top ranked St. Stephen’s College, dominate the Top 10 league table respondents.
derives comfort that differing sample of ASC colleges. In the EW 2025-26 Dr. Dilip Maske, a science post-
respondents of “high credibility” have Top 10 league table of private non- grad of Shivaji University, Kolhapur
ranked this institution India’s #1 autonomous ASC colleges, only two with a Ph D in physics from Mumbai
private non-autonomous ASC college from beyond Delhi — Barrackpore University, ascribes Ruparel ASC’s
for five years consecutively. Rastraguru Surendranath Col- great leap forward in the esteem of
“Our top scores under the param- lege (BRSC), Kolkata, ranked #9 the informed public to rising aware-
eters of faculty competence, faculty nationally and #1 in West Bengal, ness of the college’s beyond the
welfare and development and cur- and University College of Arts & syllabus education. “In Ruparel ASC,
riculum and pedagogy are testimony Sciences, Hyderabad ranked #10 we have acknowledged the ground

MAY 2025 EDUCATIONWORLD 67