Although the total scores of several non-autonomous Arts, Science and Commerce colleges exceed those of colleges granted autonomy, for mysterious reasons they have not been awarded autonomous status

No one can blame readers for experiencing a sense of deja vu when they peruse this year’s league table of India’s Top 100 private and/or aided non-autonomous ASC colleges.

Headed by St. Stephen’s College, Delhi which has been top-ranked for the past five years, the Top 10 list is almost a replica of the 2022-23 table with the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Hindu College, Miranda House, Hansraj College — all affiliated with Delhi University (DU) — ranked in that order under St. Stephen’s.

Quite obviously, the general public and parents, academic and students communities who constitute the SEC (socio-economic category ‘A’) sample respondents base for the annual EW India Higher Education Rankings (EWIHER), are well-aware that colleges affiliated with Delhi University are relatively well-funded and offer the best Arts, Science and Commerce (ASC) education. And that too at rock-bottom prices.

Tuition and residential accommodation prices of this Central government university haven’t changed for decades and it’s a fair bet that the lion’s share of the government’s budgeted outlay of Rs.44,094 crore for higher education in 2023-24 is allocated to Delhi University. This also explains the mad annual rush for admission — and high cut-offs — of colleges affiliated with DU.

Despite the countrywide popularity of DU colleges and their proven excellence — their total scores comfortably exceed the scores of the 894 undergrad colleges awarded autonomous status (see p.44) — they haven’t been granted autonomy. Delhi’s powerful neta-babu (politicians-bureaucrats) brotherhood is reluctant to surrender the powers of patronage which come with their control over Delhi University. An indicator of how great and valuable this power is that in the league table of Non-autonomous Colleges, nine are based in Delhi and affiliated with DU.

Thus the application of St. Stephen’s College for autonomy made four years ago is still pending. Ditto an application for establishment of a St. Xavier’s University affiliating all St. Xavier’s Colleges countrywide (which caused considerable excitement in EducationWorld and provoked a cover story in March 2009 has vanished from the radar screen of the Union ministry of education. Now with NEP 2020 having unequivocally mandated the conferment of academic and administrative autonomy upon provenly excellent undergrad colleges and their transformation into autonomous universities — albeit somewhat paradoxically subject to monitoring of several supervisory and regulatory authorities (see edit p.8) — it’s a conjecture when St. Stephen’s and several other non-autonomous colleges of Delhi University (Shri Ram College of Commerce, Miranda House among others) will enjoy real autonomy.

Meanwhile Prof. John Varghese, an alum of Loyola College, Chennai and Madras Christian College and principal of St. Stephen’s, is delighted with the college being top-ranked for the fifth year in succession. “We recently completed our second cycle of the NAAC accreditation process and cleared it with top honours — A++. The faculty, students and non-teaching staff are the reasons why we’re at the top!” says Varghese.

Looking ahead, Varghese says the education scenario in India is “very fluid” right now with foreign universities being given the green light to establish campuses in this country which has “scared the big boys of higher education”. “The education ministry has taken some bold initiatives, but it’s very important for government to ensure some stability in the education system. The higher secondary school education system has been called into question with the introduction of the CUET (Common University Entrance Test). Teachers are already telling me that students have started showing decreasing interest in coming to school, and that lack of interest is obvious in the quality of their answer scripts. Was the sudden introduction of CUET a wise move? Or should we have brought it in a phased manner? Have we exchanged our magic lamp which created stalwarts who now head institutions, including global ones, for a shiny new, but ineffectual lamp? If we want to be the global Viswaguru, we should take some affirmative steps now. Should we rethink the process? It’s still not too late,” muses Varghese.

Larger issues relating to the system apart, Varghese believes that new vistas and opportunities have opened up for St. Stephen’s. “NEP 2020 certainly has some very progressive ideas and we are very keen on taking its more positive mandates forward. You’ll get to hear some good news soon,” he promises.

Although this year’s league table of India’s non-autonomous ASC colleges is dominated by institutions based in Delhi, Dr. Minu Madlani, principal of the K.P. Hinduja College of Commerce, Mumbai is quite satisfied with KPHCC’s #1 ranking in Maharashtra (pop.115 million) and #1 rank in Mumbai, the country’s financial and commercial capital.

“I am deeply honoured that KPHCC is ranked the #1 commerce college in Mumbai and Maharashtra for the third year consecutively. Credit for this accrues entirely to all stakeholders — visionary management, committed faculty members, dedicated support staff, committed alumni, participative parents, and our enthusiastic students. I believe over the past 49 years since this college was established, there’s continuously spreading evidence that KPHCC is not merely a degrees awarding institution, it also grooms students to confront challenges through application of acquired skills and knowledge to become innovative and effective leaders of business and industry. And I am pleased to share with your readers that early this year, we have been conferred autonomous status by the UGC for the next ten years,” says Dr. Madlani.

Somewhat surprisingly, the only other non-Delhi colleges apart from K.P. Hinduja College, Mumbai to make it into the Top 10 table of private and/or aided non-autonomous Arts, Science and Commerce colleges countrywide is the University College of Arts and Social Sciences of Osmania University, Hyderabad and Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College, Kolkata. Yet all efforts to divert the attention of Vice Chancellor of Osmania University from his deep immersion in research and scholarship to convey the good news by way of emails and telephone calls proved futile.

Beyond the Top 10 league table overwhelmingly headed by Delhi ASC colleges, several others have made impressive gains in the esteem of informed sample respondents. For instance, the Maitreyi College, Delhi ranked #25 in 2022-23 has been promoted to #12 this year. Ditto Ramanujam College, Delhi from #34 to #15 and the SK Somaiya College of Arts and Science, Mumbai from #39 to #15.

Moreover, it’s pertinent to note that an ASC college ranked modestly in the national league table could be a heavyweight in its host state, some of which are more populous than many European countries.

Thus the Arya Mahila PG College, Varanasi ranked #21 nationally is the #1 ASC college in Uttar Pradesh (pop.215 million) and the low-profile Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College, Kolkata ranked India #10 is top-ranked in West Bengal (pop.91 million). And Rajdhani College, Baramunda, Bhubaneswar ranked India #55 is the #1 ASC College in Odisha (pop.47 million).

Regrettably, not a single ASC college of Bihar (pop.104 million) is ranked among India’s Top 100 in the 2023-24 league table. This paucity of reputable ASC undergrad colleges in the populous states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are a contributory cause of the massive admissions rush into ASC colleges in Delhi.