RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
THE WEEK-Hansa Research Best Colleges Survey 2025 covered 11 disciplines—arts, sciences, commerce, engineering, medicine, dentistry, law, hotel management, fashion technology, mass communication and architecture—across 22 cities.
A primary survey was conducted with 1,765 academic experts, 3,876 students and 53 recruiters. Opinion of recruiters was taken only for engineering. The respondents were asked to nominate and rank the 25 top colleges in India and their respective zones.
Perceptual score was calculated based on the number of nominations and the actual ranks received.
For factual data collection, a dedicated website was created and the link was sent to more than 3,500 colleges. Of the 466 colleges which responded, four were rejected as they did not meet the eligibility criteria—at least three batches should have graduated. Data for the remaining colleges was used for rankings and validations.
Factual score was calculated based on weightages assigned to parameters such as infrastructure, faculty, teaching-learning process and extracurricular, placement and hospital association (for medicine and dentistry). Placement was assigned a lower weightage (20 per cent) in the case of arts, sciences and commerce compared with other disciplines like engineering (30 per cent) and architecture (27.5 per cent).
Final score = Perceptual score (out of 600) + factual score (out of 400)
Some colleges could not respond to the survey. For them, composite score was derived by combining the perceptual score with an interpolated factual score based on their position in the perceptual score list. In cases where factual data from within the last three years was available, that was used. Colleges that did not participate and did not wish to be ranked have been omitted.
