The TOP 10 science colleges of India 2012

India Today has released the results of its annual survey of the best Indian colleges 2012. In the third part of a series, we bring you the top 10 science colleges, as per their findings. (For the list of top 10 engineering colleges, click here; for top 10 medical colleges, click here).

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.

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 science colleges from across the nation.

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In tenth place is Presidency College, Chennai.

Established on October 15, 1840, it is affiliated to the University of Madras.

It offers courses in science, commerce and arts at undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral level.

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Chennai's Madras Christian College is ninth on the list.

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.

Former president of India S Radhakrishnan, former election commissioner TN Seshan and actor Gemini Ganeshan are all MCC alumni.

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In eighth place is Fergusson College, Pune.

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

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

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Hansraj College, New Delhi is in seventh place this year.

It was established in 1948 and is one of the largest colleges in the city.

Hansraj has six computer and 18 science laboratories and offers courses in science, commerce and arts at both the undergraduate and post-graduate level.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap graduated from here.

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Christ College, Bangalore is up next.

Established on July 15, 1969, it was recognised by the University Grants Commission of India on June 17, 1972.

It was the first college in Karnataka to be accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), for providing quality education.

Miss Earth 2010 Nicole Faria is an alumnus of Christ College.

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At Number Five for science is Presidency College, Kolkata.

It was established on January 20, 1817 by education reformist Raja Ram Mohan Roy, among others and was known as Hindu College.

The college was renamed in 1855 and has over 11 academic departments, imparting courses at undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

Founder of the Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda, late former president Dr Rajendra Prasad, physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose and Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen are among its eminent alumni.

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Fourth place goes to St Xavier's College, Kolkata.

Founded in 1860, it is affiliated to the University of Calcutta and acquired autonomous status in 2006.

Recognised as one of the city's best colleges, its alumni include billionaire and CEO of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman of RPG Enterprises Harsh Goenka, tennis player Leander Paes, cricketer Saurav Ganguly and the late former CM of West Bengal Jyoti Basu, among others.

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Sliding down one place from last year is Loyola College, Chennai.

It was established in the year 1925 and is best known for its undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in science and humanities.

Famous personalities who have studied at this institute include Narasimhan Ram, MD of the Hindu Group of Publications, leading chess player Vishwanathan Anand, filmmaker Mani Ratnam and actors Surya Sivakumar and Arvind Swamy.

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In second place is St Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Although the college was more popular for its academic courses in humanities, it has managed to ascend from 18th on the list in 2011 to second best for science this year.

Actors Shabana Azmi, Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Vidya Balan and Freida Pinto have all studied at St Xavier's. Noted journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, columnist Shobha De and cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also graduated from here.

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Maintaining its top spot from last year is St Stephen's College, Delhi.

The foundation for St Stephen's was laid as early as 1920, but the institute was affiliated to Delhi University six years later, in 1926.

A constituent college of the University of Delhi, it is considered one of the country's leading academic centres and made news for its 100 per cent merit cut off last year.

Among its notable alumni are politicians Arun Shourie, Digvijay Singh, Mani Shankar Iyer and Sachin Pilot, actors Konkona Sen and Kabir Bedi, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and cricketer Anjum Chopra.

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