In the India’s top-ranked private autonomous colleges 2021-22 survey sample respondents included – 1,823 academics and 2,133 final year college students in 21 states — have awarded six seats at the Top 10 table of private autonomous colleges to Christian minority promoted institutions. As noted in our commentary in the EducationWorld India league table of the country’s most admired privately-promoted autonomous undergrad colleges last year, these league tables were dominated by institutions promoted by India’s small minority (2.3 percent) Christian community. This year as well, the national Top 10 table is dominated by men and women of cassock and habit. The 2021-22 sample respondents — 1,823 academics and 2,133 final year college students in 21 states — have awarded six seats at the Top 10 table of private autonomous colleges to Christian minority promoted institutions. At a time in the nation’s history when Hindu majoritarian fever is spreading across the country, it would be apposite to appreciate the beneficial role that higher education institutions promoted by the Christian minority has played in educating and nurturing India’s 300 million-strong middle class — among the largest worldwide — which has powered the growth, even if unsatisfactory, of industry and the economy during the past 70 years. In the 2021-22 league table of autonomous colleges, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (SXM, estb. 1869) has retained its last year’s rank as the country’s premier private autonomous arts, science and commerce undergrad college with top scores under four of the six parameters of higher education excellence, viz, faculty competence, faculty welfare and development, industry placement, and leadership/ governance. Dr. Rajendra Shinde, the cooperative principal of SXM, attributes this 151-year-old college’s continuous top ranking to its administration and faculty’s capability to respond to needs of changing times. “We are fortunate this institution attracts committed and dedicated faculty open to adopting new pedagogies and technologies to ensure that students receive a valuable and enjoyable education experience. We are also fortunate that SXM is the first choice of top-ranked school-leaving students who are receptive to innovative pedagogies and enthusiastic about making the most of their college education. These are the prime factors behind our continuously high ranking in the annual EducationWorld and other media rankings,” says Shinde, himself a graduate of SXM who served on the college faculty for 27 years before he was appointed principal of his alma mater in 2018. Recommended: India’s best government autonomous colleges 2021-22 Shinde admits that the past year during which it was shut down for the entire year was unprecedented for this vintage college whose alumni includes the late outstanding jurist Nani Palkhivala, best-selling author Rohinton Mistry, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and test cricket star Sunil Gavaskar among scores of other luminaries. “Though we were all — faculty and students — forced to shift to online teaching-learning for the first time, after some initial hiccups, with the help of a massive training drive our faculty mastered several new technologies. After that, through digitally-driven programs such as flipped classroom, giving students thought-provoking assignments, and…
