Over 55% Graduates From Kerala’s Top Colleges Chose Higher Studies Over Work: Latest Data

Among the top 10 colleges of Kerala, more than 78 per cent of the batch enrolled in 2019 graduated in 2022. However, of them, just 17.4 per cent found placements upon graduation. According to the latest data, 55.15 per cent of those graduating students chose to pursue higher studies.

The education ministry’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) began ranking colleges in 2017. In 2023, it ranked 100 colleges out of which 92 were located in just five states and Union Territories – Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal and Maharashtra. Of these, Tamil Nadu and Delhi had the highest number of colleges – 35 and 32 respectively, and Maharashtra, the least, only three. Kerala’s representation, with 14 colleges, was the third highest among the states but decreased by five colleges over the last three years. Its top college, University College, Thiruvananthapuram, was ranked at 26 in the national rankings which also went down by two positions compared to the last year.

The colleges shared data on intake capacity, enrollment, graduation and placement for the ranking exercise. The latest data publicly available is for the 2021-22 academic year. Careers360 analysed data for the batch that graduated from a three-year undergraduate degree programme – BA, BSc and others – in 2023 from the top 10 colleges for this analysis. However, details on around 27 per cent of the graduating students were not available in NIRF.

The 10 best colleges in Kerala considered have been listed below.

St Thomas College, Thrissur and St Joseph's College, Kozhikode became the part of top 10 best-ranked colleges of Kerala as per the latest ranking. Except these two, all the remaining colleges of Kerala’s ranking have decreased compared to last year. This year, Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram and Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam are not part of the top ten colleges of Kerala.

Best Colleges In Kerala: Placements

Among the 10 colleges, the placement rates ranged from six per cent at St Joseph's College, Kozhikode to 29.08 per cent at SB College, Kottayam.

Top 5 Colleges In Kerala

The placement rate at Kerala’s top colleges was the third highest among the five states. At over 32.37 per cent, Tamil Nadu’s was the highest. Delhi University colleges were a distant second at 22.41 per cent, West Bengal and Maharashtra’s colleges had a close finish with 11.3 and 9.12 per cent respectively.

Top Kerala Colleges In Numbers

The top 10 Kerala colleges had no information on students opting for higher studies or getting a job for about 27 per cent of their graduating students.

Given below are the absolute figures on enrollment and placement of the top 10 colleges spread over Kerala.

Top 10 Colleges In Kerala

Best Colleges In Kerala: Higher Studies

Third hOverall 55.14 per cent of students in Kerala’s top 10 colleges pursued higher studies, lagging behind marginally were Delhi and Tamil Nadu with 52.84 and 37.15 per cent respectively.

Bishop Moore College, Alappuzha, had the highest percentage of students opting for higher studies, with 205 students out of 223 graduating students.

Higher Studies (In %)

Student Opted For Higher Education

The NIRF data shows that Kerala had the lowest percentage of graduates among all the five states, but it has the third highest percentage of students pursuing higher education. Only 0.19 per cent of the available seats of Kerala’s college remain vacant which make it best among the five states and union territories.