Five colleges affiliated to Calcutta University have received lower grades than a north Bengal institution in the preliminary screening of 20 nominees for the status of centres of excellence (CoE).

The University Grants Commission confers the CoE tag or denies it to a college on the basis of a scrutiny of factors ranging from academic infrastructure to involvement in community development.

“A comparison of marks revealed that ABN Seal College of Cooch Behar has scored more than Bijoy Krishna Girls’ College of Howrah, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandir in Belur, Bethune College, Lady Brabourne College and Maulana Azad College. This really comes as a surprise,” said an UGC official who did not wish to be named.

ABN Seal College is affiliated to North Bengal University.

The UGC had planned to award CoE status to seven colleges of Bengal this year but later pruned the list to five.

Although the evaluation process isn’t over yet — the colleges in contention and the universities to which they are affiliated need to convey their views on the grades before the final announcement — a Cooch Behar college looks set to beat five Calcutta colleges in the excellence stakes.

“It is heartening to know that colleges in the districts are doing well, but those in the city are expected to perform better given that they have better facilities,” said a lecturer of a government college.

Suranjan Das, the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, declined comment.

Presidency was the first to be conferred the CoE tag in 2004, when the UGC launched the first phase of its scheme to upgrade undergraduate colleges to centres of excellence. St Xavier’s College, Scottish Church College and Loreto College earned the tag in 2006. Apart from the honour, colleges stand to financially benefit from the CoE tag.

An autonomous college with accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) receives a one-time grant of Rs 1 crore if it is declared a centre of excellence. Colleges with only NAAC accreditation are awarded a maximum of Rs 65 lakh. Those that are neither autonomous nor NAAC-accredited get Rs 35 lakh.