India's BEST arts colleges 2013

India Today has released the results of its annual of the best Indian colleges 2013. In the third part of a series, we bring you the top 10 arts colleges, as per their findings. (Please also read India's best science colleges 2013 and India's best commerce colleges 2013)

One of the leading magazines in the country, India Today has prepared a list of the best colleges in India for this year.

Using data from the Internet, various published reports and the Association of Indian Universities Handbook, the publication partnered with global marketing and advertising research company Nielsen to draw up a list of over 1,500 colleges across 11 distinct disciplines.

Faculties from leading institutes across the country rated all but their own colleges and universities on the basis of reputation, quality of academic input, student care, infrastructure and job prospects; those that figured high up in the rankings also had to submit factual data to figure in the list.

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

Please click NEXT to view India's top 10 arts colleges for 2013...

In tenth place is Christ University, Bangalore.

Established on July 15, 1969, Christ was the first college in Karnataka to be accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for providing quality education to students.

It has a 25-acre campus in Bangalore and 75-acre campus in Kengeri near the Mysore highway.

It offers certificate, diploma, undergraduate and post graduate programmes in law, education, sciences, social sciences, languages, commerce and management, and engineering.

Miss Earth 2010 Nicole Faria pursued her pre-university certificate (class 12) from this college.

New Delhi’s prestigious Hindu College comes in at nine.

It was established in 1899 and is often ranked among the best institutions for arts and commerce in the country.

Besides academics, it has several societies for arts, dramatics, literature and economics that help build life skills in students.

Directors Vishal Bhardwaj, Imtiaz Ali and actor Manoj Kumar have studied here.

Next, we have Fergusson College, Pune.

Established in the year 1884, the college offers undergraduate programmes in 29 disciplines and post-graduate programmes in 16 disciplines.

It has a 65-acre campus in the city and caters to over 600 students annually.

Among its celebrated alumni are former prime minister Narasimha Rao and ad film maker Prahlad Kakkar.

One of the premier colleges in New Delhi, the Shri Ram College of Commerce features on number seven.

Established in 1926, the college is spread across a sprawling 17-acre campus.

This institution boasts of having the best infrastructure and a world-class teaching staff.

Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, politician Arun Jaitley and India TV founder Rajat Sharma have pursued their graduation from SRCC.

Madras Christian College has moved up three places from its last year’s rankings; it is ranked sixth this year.

One of the oldest colleges in the country, it was founded in 1837 and admits over 6,500 students across its various undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

The country’s former president S Radhakrishnan and actor Gemini Ganesan are among its notable alumni.

Delhi’s Miranda House rounds off the top five arts colleges in the country this year.

One of the premier colleges in the capital city, it was ranked at number 10 last year.

This educational institution established in 1948, currently caters to over 3,000 students annually across its undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, social activist Aruna Roy, filmmaker Mira Nair and actor Nandita Das have all graduated from Miranda House.

At number four is St Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

It was established in the year 1889 and is named after Francis Xavier, a 16th century Spanish Jesuit saint.

It offers programmes both at the undergraduate and post graduate level and is best known for its science and arts programmes.

St Xavier's has an extensive list of highly successful alumni that include actors like Shabana Azmi, Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Vidya Balan and Freida Pinto, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, to name a few.

Third on the list of best arts colleges is Loyola College, Chennai.

It was founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1925 with the primary objective of providing a university education to children of the Catholic community.

However, it now admits youngsters from across communities and religions.

Some of its notable and successful alumni are grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, tennis players Vijay Amritraj and Leander Paes and actors Surya Sivakumar, Aravind Swamy and Vikram.

The second best college for arts according to India Today is Lady Shri Ram College for Women.

It was established in the year 1956 and is a constituent college of the University of Delhi.

It currently offers 16 undergraduate and 10 postgraduate programmes in liberal arts for women.

CEO Of Axis Bank Shikha Sharma, investigative journalist Chitra Subramaniam and actor Shriya Saran are some of the many famous alumni who have graduated from this esteemed institution.

In last year's rankings, St Stephen's had lost its first place to Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi.

This year, however, it has emerged as the top college for both arts and science as per the India Today rankings.

Established in 1881, it was first affiliated to Calcutta University, then Punjab University and finally the University of Delhi in 1922.

The college prides itself in having created leaders who’ve ruled the state and country.

Prominent leaders who have graduated from this institution include minister of state for HRD Shashi Tharoor, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and minister of state for corporate affairs Sachin Pilot.