Kerala is the state with the second highest number of colleges in the Best 100 arts and science colleges as per the recently published National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2017. The state has 14 colleges in the Best 100 list, coming a distant second to Tamil Nadu which has 37 colleges.
Christ College in Irinjalakkuda (Thrissur) tops the list among Kerala colleges with the highest ranking of 18. Jose Thekkan, the principal of Christ College, said that the top ranking has come as result of the joint effort of students and teachers. "I'm really happy about the achievement. This is the first time that we became part of NIRF's ranking. Becoming the best college in Kerala in the first attempt is definitely happy news."
These are Kerala's Colleges in the top 100
1. Christ College (Autonomous), Thrissur (18)
2. Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Ernakulam (25)
3. Sacred Heart's College, Ernakulam, (28)
4. St Joseph's College, Calicut, (31)
5. St Joseph's College, Thrissur, (42)
6. Mercy College, Palakkad, (48)
7. Little Flower College, Thrissur (49)
8. MES Keveeyam College, Valanchery (51)
9. Vimla College, Thrissur, (52)
10. St. Mary's College, Thrissur (55)
11. St. Teresa's College, Ernakulam, (70)
12. Mannam Memroial N.S.S. College, Kollam, (73)
13. Assumption College, Kottayam (84)
14. Nirmala College Ernakulam (91)
Engineering Colleges do all right
Among the engineering colleges, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram (IISST) was the highest performing college from Kerala with a rank of 27. It was not featured among the Best 100 engineering colleges last year. The other institutes in the list are National Institute of Technology Calicut coming at 44 and College of Engineering Trivandrum at 93.
However, Cochin University Of Science And Technology in Ernakulam - which had the 55th rank last time, did not even make the Top 100.
Though the number of Kerala universities in the list has more than doubled in comparison to last year, the two universities that were featured in the 2016 list took a long trip southwards. IIST was ranked 8th and CUSAT was ranked 30th in last years NIRF rankings. Amrita University featured 9th on the list based on the academic and research credentials that they had submitted to the MHRD.