Calcutta: A college run by the Ramakrishna Mission in Belur is among the 10 best in India, according to a list prepared by the human resource development ministry.
Presidency University is between 151 and 200 in the overall ranking of institutions.
The 76-year-old Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, which has ranked ninth among colleges, has been an autonomous institutions since 2010. Miranda House tops the list of colleges (see chart).
No other college from Bengal is in the top 10. St Xavier's College has ranked 17, RK Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara, has ranked 29, Loreto College, 31 and RK Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, 40.
Presidency is between 101 and 150 as university and between 151 and 200 in the "overall" category in the National Institutional Ranking Framework. Beyond 100, the institutions are not given specific ranks.
The announcement of the ranks brought joy to the Belur college, which participated in the exercise for the first time. "We are happy that our college is in the top 10. We hope to perform better in the coming years," said Swami Ekachittananda, the vice-principal of the college.
Ever since the college, affiliated to Calcutta University, was granted autonomy in 2010, the authorities have taken a number of initiatives to achieve academic excellence.
"The college has grown substantially over the past few years - in infrastructure and academics. The institute's undergraduate and postgraduate courses in industrial chemistry are among the most sought-after courses. The institution, despite being an undergraduate college, has undertaken very high quality research projects. These achievements have made it possible for us to find a position on the list," the vice-principal said.
Presidency vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia, in response to a question over the dip in ranking compared with 2016, sent an WhatsApp message: "Given that we are a new university with only classical humanities and sciences faculty, it is very nice to compete with other institutions that have technology and other career-oriented courses. I believe this ranking shows a high level of appreciation of the performance of our faculty and students. However, the rankings should be comparable for specific subjects. Otherwise the relevance of giving a rank to any institution is not meaningful."
In 2016, Presidency had applied under the "university" category and been ranked 41.
Calcutta University has improved it's ranking in the "university" and "overall" categories compared with last year. In the "overall" category, the ranking has improved from 27 to 21, and in the "university" category, from 16 to 14.
Jadavpur University has registered a slide in rankings in all three categories compared with last year - overall (12 to 13), university (6 to 12) and engineering (5 to 9).
Additional reporting by Basant Kumar Mohanty