India's BEST science colleges 2013

India Today has released the results of its annual survey of the best Indian colleges 2013. In the first part of a series, we bring you the top 10 science colleges, as per their findings.

Leading magazine India Today in partnership with global marketing and advertising research firm The Nielsen Company has prepared a list of the best Indian colleges for the year 2013.

Using data from the Internet, various published reports and the Association of Indian Universities Handbook, both India Today and Nielsen first drew up a list of over 1,500 colleges from across the nation.

These colleges catered to 11 distinct disciplines namely arts, science, commerce, engineering, medicine, law, BBA, BCA, mass communication and journalism, fashion and fine arts.

For arts, science and commerce colleges in 13 major cities -- Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune -- were considered.

Meanwhile, for the remaining eight streams colleges from across the country were considered.

Next, an expert panel comprising faculties and teachers from across the various institutions in each city completed a structured questionnaire where they had to judge each of these colleges and distribute 100 points across five parameters -- reputation of colleges, quality of academic input, student care, infrastructure and job prospects.

For the third round, a different panel of experts were asked to rate the above colleges in their respective streams, bearing the national perspective in mind.

To finalise the overall rankings, colleges that featured in the top 50 in the arts, science and commerce streams, the top 25 in the engineering, medicine and law streams and the top 10 in BBA, BCA, mass communication and journalism, fashion, fine arts, were asked to provide factual data.

Those colleges that did not provide the factual data were not considered in the final ranking process.

After combining the perceptual scores and factual data, the final rankings were established.

In the following pages, we bring you the top 10 science colleges from across the nation.

Please click NEXT to view the top 10 science colleges...

In tenth place is Chennai’s Madras ChristianCollege.

Founded in 1837, the MCC is one of the oldest colleges in the country.

An autonomous institute, it admits over 6,500 students across its various undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

Padma Vibhushan and Apollo Hospitals founder Dr Prathap C Reddy and the late Pulney Andy, the first Indian recipient of a medical degree from Britain are among MCC’s notable alumni.

One of the three premier colleges in the capital city, New Delhi’s Ramjas College makes significant progress from 17th position last year and features at Number 9 in the top 10 list of science colleges this year.

It was started in 1917 and currently offers courses in liberal arts and sciences both at the undergraduate and post graduate level.

Hindi filmmaker Prakash Jha, actor Manoj Bajpai and India TV founder Rajat Sharma have all studied in this college.

Delhi University’s prestigious Hindu College is ranked at number eight.

The college that is known to have played a significant role in the pre-Independence era currently caters to over 2,400 students offering courses in science, commerce and humanities annually.

It has the distinction of producing graduates who have excelled in their professions across domains.

Leading political analyst and academician Subramanian Swamy pursued his graduation majoring in Mathematics from this college.

Other notable alumni from Hindu College include news anchor Arnab Goswami, director Vishal Bhardwaj and cricketer Gautam Gambhir.

Staying put on Number 7 is Hansraj College.

Besides a wide range of programmes at the undergraduate and post graduate level, Hansraj also offers intregrated programmes and certificate courses, catering to over 3,700 students annually.

Leading forensic scientist Anil Aggarwal, industrialist Navin Jindal, director Anurag Kashyap and actor Shah Rukh Khan have all graduated from Hansraj.

Pune's Fergusson College has moved up two places from last year's rankings and is positioned at number 6 this year.

Established in 1884, the college has a 65-acre campus.

It offers both post graduate and undergraduate programmes in mainstream science and vocational science and caters to about 600 students annually.

Noted scientist late D D Kosambi, Marathi playwright PL Deshpande, actors Smita Patil and Pooja Batra have all graduated from this college.

Rounding off the top 5 is St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, which has slipped down two places from its third rank last year.

Established in the year 1889, it is named after Francis Xavier, a 16th century Spanish Jesuit saint.

Although it was started as an arts college, it presently enrolls over 2,700 students across science, commerce and arts streams.

Like many other colleges in the list, St Xavier's too is renowned for its many, highly successful alumni --  actors Shabana Azmi, Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Vidya Balan and Freida Pinto, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, columnist Shobha De and cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, to name a few. 

Next, we have this private university from Bangalore.

Founded in 1969, ChristUniversity offers courses in law, business administration, commerce, management, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

It annually enrolls over 12,000 students across various streams.

Among its notable alumni include Karnataka MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, beatboxing artist Vineet Vincent and actor Rima Kallingal.

Third on the list is Delhi's Miranda House.

Started in 1948, it offers courses in pure sciences, social sciences and humanities at the undergraduate and post graduate level.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, film maker Mira Nair and actor Nandita Das have all pursued their degrees from this college.

Chennai’s Loyola College emerges runner up in India Today's 2013 listing of best science colleges.

The 99-acre campus offers a wide range of courses in pure and social sciences, arts and commerce and follows a credit based semester pattern.

Hindu group MD Narasimhan Ram, inventor Rangaswamy Srinivasan, actor Surya Sivakumar and music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja are Loyola alumni.

Delhi’s St Stephen's College is ranked as the best college for science as per the India Today rankings this year.

Established in 1881, the college’s science course includes bachelor's programmes in mathematics, chemistry and physics and master's programmes in operations research, maths, chemistry and physics.

Some of famous names that have studied at this institution include IT and Telecom minister Kapil Sibal, External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid and minister of state for HRD Shashi Tharoor.