West Bengal, usually in the news mostly for the wrong reasons in recent years, has something to cheer about. In the just-released NIRF, or National Institutional Ranking Framework figures, Jadavpur University is no. 1 in the State Public University list and is at no. 18 in the Overall category, a matter of pride for the Kolkata-based institution.
In sharp contrast, Visva-Bharati, the only Central university in West Bengal, saw a sharp decline in its ranking. In 2016, immediately after NIRF was instituted, the Rabindranath Tagore-founded university was at no. 11 among universities; today its position has plunged into the 151-200 band after a steady decline in its rank over the years. The University of Calcutta too has seen a downslide, though not on the scale of Visva-Bharati: for example, from no. 11 in 2021 in the Overall category, to no. 47 this year.
