Mumbai University Admissions 2014: Top 5 colleges

University of Mumbai is one of the oldest Universities of India. It was established by Dr John Wilson in 1857 and is amongst the first three Universities established in India, the other two being – Senate of Serampore College (established in 1818) and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (1847).

Earlier known as the University of Bombay, the name of this educational institution was changed to University of Mumbai in 1996 following the change of the name of the city from Bombay to Mumbai.

University of Mumbai has two campuses located at Vidyanagari and Fort region which are spread over an area of 243 acres and 14 acres, respectively. The University has sub-campuses/centers at Ratnagiri (20 acres area), Thane (6.50 acres) and Kalyan (6.26 acres). The University spreads over 1.25 million square feet of built-up area, 22 thousand sq. feet of class-rooms and 84 thousand sq feet of laboratory space. It comprises of 56 departments and institutes as well as 691 colleges are affiliated to it.

So, in continuation to our series on the top five colleges at University of Delhi, Pune University and Bangalore University, here we bring for you the best colleges at University of Mumbai.

St Xavier’s College

Established in 1869, St. Xavier's College was named after the 16th century Spanish Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier. At the time of its establishment the college had just two students. The college is considered to be one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in India and has been awarded the highest rating, A+ (5-Star), by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2007.

Courses Offered

St Xavier’s College offers programmes such as:

• Bachelor of Arts (BA)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc)
• Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS)
• Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM)
• BSc Information Technology (BSc IT)
• Bachelor of Commerce (BCom)
• MA programmes

Fee

The course fee for St Xavier’s College ranges from Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000.

Famous Alumni

• Azim Premji – Billionaire Business Tycoon, philanthropist and Chairman of Wipro Limited
• Mukesh Ambani – Billionaire business magnate, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited
• Adi Godrej – Billionaire industrialist and chairman of the Godrej Group
• Ratanji Tata - Parsi financier and philanthropist
• Sir Dorabji Tata - Indian businessman, and a key figure in the development of the Tata Group
• Vidya Balan – Bollywood actress
• Shabana Azmi – actress
• Alyque Padamsee – Theatre actor & ad film maker
• Neerja Bhanot - chief flight attendant for Pan Am who was murdered while saving passengers on board the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 and the youngest recipient of the Ashok Chakra.
• Zakir Hussain – Musicians
• Sunil Gavaskar – Cricketer
• Rajdeep Sardesai – Journalist
• Shobhaa De – Column writer & author
• Fali Nariman – Jurist
• Ashok Kamte – Ex-Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police, who was killed while fighting terrorists during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
• Aditya Roy Kapur – Actor

University of Mumbai, Kalina Campus

The Kalina campus, located in suburban Mumbai spread over an area of 230 acres. University of Mumbai has two other campuses apart from the one at Kalina which are – the Ratnagiri Campus and Fort Campus. The Kalina campus of the University is the largest and offers many courses such as engineering, medicine, nano sciences, various languages, radio jockeying etc. The Kalina campus also plays home to the public library – The Jawaharlal Nehru Library.

Kalina campus of University of Mumbai has various institutes and centres which are:

• National Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology
• Department of Biophysics
• Examination House, also known as Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Bhavan
• Garware Institute of Career Education and Development
• Alkesh Dinesh Mody Numismatic Museum
• Alkesh Dinesh Mody Institute for Financial and Management Studies (ADMI)
• Department of Extra Mural Studies
• The Institute of Distance & Open Learning (IDOL)
• Western Regional Instrumentation Centre (WRIC)
• Centre for African Studies
• Centre for Eurasian Studies
• Marathi Bhasha Bhavan Centre

Fee

University of Mumbai’s course fee ranges from Rs 3,000 to Rs 18,000

Famous alumni

Some popular personalities who have studied at the various campuses of Mumbai University are:

• B. R. Ambedkar – Architect of modern India and author of the Constitution of India, social reformist and thinker.
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – Indian leader, father of nation, India
• Lokmanya Tilak – Maker of modern India, Indian nationalist leader, savant, philosopher, mathematician.
• Lal Krishna Advani – Former Deputy Prime Minister of India
• John Abraham – Bollywood actor
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah Governor – General of Pakistan
• Madhuri Dixit – Popular Indian Actress
• Priyanka Chopra – Miss World 2000, Bollywood actress
• Aishwarya Rai – Miss World 1993, actress
• Lara Dutta – Miss Universe in 2000

Ramnarain Ruia College

Established in 1937 by Sir Roger Lumley who was Mumbai’s Governor at that time, Ramnarain Ruia College saw a huge investment by Seth Ramnivas Ruia and thus, the college is named after him. Famous for its Arts faculty, Ruia College was the first college which was set up in Mumbai and is also the first college in the country to achieve the “College of Excellence” status by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The college has a 70 year old library which at present has around 1,20,000 books, periodicals, national as well as international journals and magazines. It also has an e-learning centre with high speed LAN and free Internet access for students.

Courses Offered

Ramnarain Ruia College offers programmes such as:

• BSc (Statistics, Mathematics)
• B.Sc (Physics)
• B Sc (Chemistry)
• BSc (Biotechnology)
• BSc (Computer Science)
• BA (Economics, Political Science, Philosophy, English Literature, Hindi Literature, French Literature, Marathi Literature, Psychology, Mathematics & History)
• MSc (Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Life Sciences, Microbiology)
• MSc (Biotechnology)
• MSc (Computer Science, Information Technology)
• MA
• Doctoral courses in Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Zoology, Life Science and History
• Diploma in Information Technology
• Diploma in Bioinformatics
• Diploma in Travel and Tourism
• Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Analytical Chemistry.

Courses offered by the Department of Communication and Media include:

• BMM
• PG Diploma in Public Relations and Communication
• PG Diploma in Business Journalism
• Diploma in Community Radio and Community Media Technology
• Certificate in Soft Skills and Personality Development
• Certificate in Entrepreneurship Development Skills

Fee

Ramnarain Ruia College’s fee for general category students ranges from Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000.

Famous Alumni

The students as well as alumni of Ramnarain Ruia College are referred to as – Ruiaites. Some famous alumni of this college are:

• Ajit Wadekar – Former Indian Criketer
• Manohar Joshi – Former Chief Minister of Mumbai
• Dilip Chitre – Literary person
• Bharat Kumar Raut – MP and Editor of Maharashtra Times
• Sonali Bendre – Film Actress

Mithibai College

Established in 1961 by Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) to celebrate its own silver jubilee, Mithibai College has 50% reservation for Gujarati speaking community apart from the conventional reservations for SC, ST, OBC and female candidates. At the time of its inception the college consisted of Mithibai College of Arts and Chauhan Institute of Science which was jointly referred to as the “Main Wing”. However, after 19 years Amrutben Jivanlal College of Commerce & Economics & Kathak became a part of Mithibai College.

Mithibhai College has 31 departments. Out of these 15 are postgraduate departments with seven of them offering PhD programmes.

Courses Offered

Humanities and Liberal Arts

• B.A in Economics
• B.A in English
• B.A in Philosophy
• B.A in Political Science
• B.A in Psychology
• B.A in Sociology
• B.A in Advertising
• B.A in Comparative Religions
• B.A in Gujarati
• B.A in Social Work and Social Welfare

Commerce

• B.Com. in Banking and Finance
• B.Com. in Business Administration
• B.Com. in Business Enterprenurship
• B.Com. in Corporate Law and Secretarial Practice
• B.Com. in Costing Accounts
• B.Com. in Environmental and Organisational Behavior
• B.Com. in Marketing and Advertisement
• B.Com. in Tax Law Procedure and Practice

Biological and Environmental Science

• B.Sc. in Biotechnology
• B.Sc. in Biochemistry
• M.Sc. in Microbiology
• M.Sc. in Zoology
• Ph.D. in Zoology
• Ph.D. in Microbiology

Management

• Bachelor of Management Studies

Media and Communication

• BA in Mass Communication

Physical Sciences

• B.Sc. in Computer Science
• M.Sc. in Chemistry
• M.Sc. in Physics
• Ph.D. in Chemistry

Fee

The course fee at Mithibai College ranges from Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000.

Famous Alumni

• Ajay Devgan – Bollywood actor, director and producer
• Kareena Kapoor – Bollywood actress
• Esha Deol – Bollywood actress
• Tushar Gandhi – Great-Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
• Sarah-Jane Dias – Miss India World 2007
• Ekta Kapoor – Film and TV producer
• Drashti Dhami – Model and actress
• Raveena Tandon – Bollywood actress
• Shahid Kapoor – Film actor
• Anita Sood – Swimmer, Arjuna Award winner
• Avika Gor – Actress

Wilson College

Founded in 1832 by Scottish missionary Rev. John Wilson, Wilson College existed even before the establishment of the University of Mumbai. Wilson College began as Ambrolie School in Girgaum, later after several changes of sites and names, it eventually was named Wilson School. This was a collegiate section from which Wilson College evolved in 1836.

The vision and foresight of Dr. Wilson saw the establishment of the University of Bombay in 1857 and in 1861, the collegiate section of Wilson’s institution became the first privately owned, non-government institution to get affiliated to the University.

Courses Offered

University of Mumbai’s Wilson College offers degree courses in subjects such as:

• Marathi
• Hindi
• Sanskrit
• English
• Political Science
• Economics
• Sociology
• History
• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Electronics
• Information Technology
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Microbiology and Biotechnology
• Zoology
• Botany

Professional Courses / Self financing courses on offer at Wilson College include:

• Bachelor of Mass Media
• Bachelor of Management Studies
• Computer Science
• Biotechnology

Famous Alumni

• Shri Morarji Desai – Politician
• Nissim Ezekiel – Poet
• Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher – First Chief Minister of Mumbai
• Dilip Sardesai – Indian test cricketer
• Dr. Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao – Indian economist, politician, professor and educator
• Dr. Vasant Ramji Khanolkar – Famous Indian Pathologist
• R. B. Naik – Politician
• Asoka Mehta – Freedom fighter and socialist politician
• Shubha Khote – Actress
• Dr. Trimbak Krishna Tope – Former Principal of Government Law College, Former Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University and Former Sheriff of Mumbai