The School of Chemical & Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu emerged as the number one private biotech school in India in 2007 followed by Department of Biotechnology, School of Bioengineering, SRM University, Chennai, and Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan according to BioSpectrum survey.

Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida ranked fourth and Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University at Noida was at number five, revealed the fourth annual survey of 200 public and private institutes conducted by BioSpectrum magazine, an offering of the Cybermedia group of publications. 

The top two private institutes are from Tamil Nadu. Among the top five institutes, three are from North and the fourth ranked Jaypee Institute and fifth ranked Amity University are from Noida. The Departments of Biotechnology at The Oxford College of Science, RV College of Engineering and PES Institute of Technology all from Bangalore ranked sixth, seventh and tenth respectively.

According to the survey of Public Biotech Schools the top ranking institute in 2007 was The School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Trivandrum. The fourth position was held by Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai while the University School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh (GGS) Indraprastha University ranked fifth. Interestingly, BioSpectrum's Public School Survey, released last month, revealed that none of the colleges from Bangalore featured in the top 10 public biotech schools in the country while six schools of the ten were from north India.

The fourth BioSpectrum survey ranks schools offering B.Tech, Masters and PhD courses but not BSc courses for the academic year 2006-07. 

The study was conducted during November-December 2007. To maintain objectivity, BioSpectrum based its methodology on measurable and quantifiable data - faculty, industry interface, infrastructure and placements. 

Commenting on the results of BioSpectrum Biotech School Survey 2008 Mr. Narayanan Suresh, Group Editor of BioSpectrum (India and Asia) said, "The top schools study reflects the growth of the biotech sector in several clusters like Bangalore-Chennai-Hyderabad region and the North like in the NCR region."

The two most important parameters to rank the schools were faculty and infrastructure with nearly two third weightage in the overall ranking while industry interface and placement had a weightage of 16% each.

SASTRA University had the top score for infrastructure among the private biotech schools followed by Jaypee Institute of Information Technology at Solan, and SRM University, Chennai. The Oxford College of Science and Jaypee Institute of Information Technology at Noida were the next in the order. Infrastructure of schools, with 34% weightage in the overall ranking, included expenditure on library and lab equipment and PC per biotech student.

Teaching staff ranks best at Amity University
The teaching staff was graded on the basis of faculty per student, qualification, experience, number of publications in national and international journals and patents filed or granted. Amity University, R V College of Engineering and Sastra University were the top three in this category. Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Avinashilingam University for Women in Tamil Nadu was at the fourth place in this category though it stood at number sixteen in the overall ranking.

Oxford College of Science Bangalore tops in Placements
The Department of Biotechnology at the Oxford College of Science in Bangalore had the highest placement score followed by PES Institute of Technology. Sastra University ranked fifteenth in this parameter lower than R V College of Engineering and Shri M&N Virani Science College at number three and four respectively. Shri M&N Virani Science College, Gujarat had an overall ranking of nine.

Jaypee, Solan tops Industry Interaction score 
Industry interaction was measured on the basis of products developed by the institute which were in production, number of projects sponsored by industry and government and royalty inflow. The top three institutes in this category were Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, SRM University and Jaypee University of Information Technology, Noida followed by Sastra University and Reva Institute of Science & Management at Bangalore. Reva Institute ranked eighteenth in the overall score.

Top Private Biotech Schools Ranking 2008
Rank 1: School of Chemical & Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Rank 2: Department of Biotechnology, School of Bioengineering, SRM University,Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Rank 3: Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology Solan, Himachal Pradesh
Rank 4: Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information TechnologyNoida, UP
Rank 5: Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Noida, UP
Rank 6: Department of Biotechnology, The Oxford College of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka
Rank 7: Department of Biotechnology, R V College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka
Rank 8: Department of Biotechnology, Shoolini Institute of Life Sciences and Business Management, Solan, Himachal Pradesh
Rank 9: Department of Biotechnology, Shri M. & N Virani Science College, Rajkot, Gujarat
Rank 10: Department of Biotechnology, PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka
Rank 11: Department of Biotechnology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Rank 12: Department of Biotechnology, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu
Rank 13: Institute of Biotechnology & Allied Sciences, Seedling Academy, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Rank 14: Department of Biotechnology, Kamraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu
Rank 15: Department of Biotechnology, Arunai Engineering College, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu
Rank 16: Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Avinashilingam University for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Rank 17: Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka
Rank 18: Department of Life Sciences, Reva Institute of Science & Management, Bangalore, Karnataka
Rank 19: Department of Biotechnology, Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Rank 20: College of Biotechnology & Allied Sciences, Allahabad Agricultural Institute Allahabad, UP

List of Top 19 Public Biotech Schools

Rank 1: University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
Rank 2: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi
Rank 3: Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Trivandrum
Rank 4: Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
Rank 5: Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi
Rank 6: National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal
Rank 7: GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pant Nagar
Rank 8: University of Kashmir, Hazaratbal
Rank 9: Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
Rank 10: The Maharaja Sayaji Rao University of Baroda, Vadodra
Rank 11: Department of Biotechnology, University of Jammu, Jammu
Rank 12: Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
Rank 13: Department of Microbiology, Bangalore University, Bangalore
Rank 14: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
Rank 15: Department of Biotechnology, Government Science College, Bangalore
Rank 16: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Tezpur
Rank 17: Department of Biotechnology, Kumaun University, Nainital
Rank 18: Department of Microbiology, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad
Rank 19: Department of Biotechnology, Burdwan University, Burdwan

About CyberMedia
CyberMedia, now in its 25th year, is South Asia's first and largest specialty media house, with fifteen publications (including Dataquest, DQ Channels and DQ Week, PCQuest, Voice&Data, Global Services and DARE) in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics, biotech and entrepreneurship areas, and is a media value chain including Internet (www.ciol.com), events and television. The group's media services include market research (IDC India), job board (CyberMedia Tech Job Portal), content management, multimedia, and media education. 

CyberMedia also publishes BioSpectrum Asia from Singapore and Global Services from the USA, the first Indian magazine titles to be published from outside the country for a global audience. 

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At CyberMedia: 
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Executive Editor, BioSpectrum 
+ 91 98455 80279 
srinivasch@cybermedia.co.in