College since its inception



Thiagarajar College founded on 7th July 1949, was formally inaugurated on 12th October 1949 by His Excellency, the King of Bhavnagar, the then Governor of the Madras State. In the inaugural function, the founder, Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar, described this college as a “Small and Humble Endeavour in Education”. It is said that as the mathematical equation 7 x 7 = 49 will remain unchanged forever, the college will also remain immortal on the sands of eternity, as it was opened on 07.07.1949.

From its inception, the college remains one of the premier institutions in Madurai. The college was started with only three undergraduate courses but now has grown in its stature with 28 UG, 12 PG and 11 M.Phil and 10 Ph.D Programmes in addition to 13 diploma and 16 Certificate courses. The college is a private and aided co-educational institution affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University. It is meticulously managed by Kalaithanthai Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar Memorial Trust. The motto of the college is “Wisdom and Love embody the Divine”.

The college has come a very long way from the time of its inception, with the significant contribution of the founder, the great philanthropist Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar and the committed service and support of the members of his family, late Dr. Mrs. Radha Thiagarajan (then Emeritus President), Mr. Karumuttu T. Kannan (The President), Dr. Mrs. Uma Kannan (The Vice President) and Mr. K. Thiagarajan (The Secretary).

The focal point of the college is employability along with academic excellence and character development. It aims at providing quality education, fostering excellence in research and promoting academic inquiry. The Institution was upgraded as an autonomous institution in 1987. It was first accredited with Five Stars by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2001 and was re-accredited with ’A’ Grade in 2007 and again re-accredited with ‘A’ Grade in the third cycle in January 2013.

NAAC has recognised our college as one of the high performing institutions and has extended the accreditation validity period from 5 to 7 years.

The college has been selected to receive grants for a National Centre of Excellence facility by MHRD, New Delhi for Interdisciplinary research and training in Bio-resource Management involving the departments of Mathematics, Zoology and Botany and has received a grant of Rs. 2.00 crores during the period 2014-16.

UGC approved Women’s Studies Centre under the chairmanship of the Vice President Dr. (Mrs.) Uma Kannan,is offering certificate courses on Women’s Health and Fitness and Life Skills for Women. The Centre is organizing programmes on the focal themes of Women and Health, Women and Environment & Women Entrepreneurship.

The Tamil Music Research Centre offers Certificate and Diploma courses in Vocal, Mirudhangam, Veena and Bharathanatyam under the aegis of Tamilnadu Music and Fine Arts University.

The teaching-learning process being student centric, the curriculum endeavours to integrate knowledge with skill which sustains an environment of learning and creativity. Learning is accentuated with students’ participation in project work, hands-on training, internship and e-learning. The learning process is more student-friendly through modern teaching aids and ICT tools.

The College plays a proactive role in establishing our culture in a multi-faceted dimension. The College provides a conducive ambience to carry out the research projects. Faculty members submit research proposals and receive grants from various funding agencies like UGC, DST, CSIR, DRDO, MoEF, MHRD, TNSCST, DBT, CICT, MoES etc. The college has been a member of UGC-NLIST programme from the since 2010. The faculty and research scholars utilize this facility for their research. Our College is a part of the Cluster colleges selected by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry, New Delhi). Inter-disciplinary research is another healthy activity of the campus, where, research guidance and publication take place involving departments of related fields.

The College is associated with organizations like National Taipei University of technology, Taiwan, Birla Institute of Technology, Goa Campus, M.S. Chellamuthu Trust, Madurai, IICT, Hyderabad, AIRC, Chennai, ICWAI, Calcutta and CECRI, Karaikudi for research and with PARD, Madurai, AKASH, Madurai and Rotary International, USA for outreach programmes, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ICT Academy, RedHat Academy. The college has adopted Puliankulam Village for carrying out all the extension activities. The Department of Economics receives studentship grants from M&EA Trust, Department of Econometrics, University of Madras for undertaking PG Projects. The Department of Chemistry offers consultancy services for FTIR, UV and water analysis as well as Molecular Modelling to the students, teachers, researchers and industries in Tamil Nadu.

Every student is expected to enroll oneself in either Physical Education, NCC (Army/ Navy) or NSS for committed community service. The cultural programmes of the fine arts club provide an opportunity for the students to hone their histrionic skills. The Training and Placement Cell along with Career Guidance Cell and the TECA Forum ensure that all the students get trained in personality development and soft skills. Rotract Club, Youth Red Cross Society, Nature Club, Girl Students’ Counselling Cell, Blood Donors Club, First Aid Cell, Value Education, Social Service League, Quality Circle and Library book club are the various clubs actively functioning to ensure overall development of the students. With 5925 Life Members, the vibrant Thiagarajar College Alumni Charitable Trust is associated with the various development activities of the college under the benevolent leadership of the illustrious alumnus, President Thiru. Karumuttu T. Kannan.




Milestones


1949College started with Intermediate: B.A. Economics and History; B.Sc. Mathematics.
1956Introduction of Pre-University Course.
1957Introduction of B.A. Tamil and English; B.Sc. Physics, Chemistry and Zoology courses
1958Introduction of M.A. Tamil
1959Introduction of M.A. Economics, M.Sc. Mathematics and Zoology.
1961Introduction of M.A. English
1965Introduction of B.Sc. Botany
1968Introduction of Tamil medium in Pre-University Courses and B.A. Economics
1970Introduction of Bachelor of Business Administration.
1972Introduction of semester pattern in PG.
1976Introduction of semester pattern in UG.
1979Introduction of M.Sc. Botany and M.Phil. Tamil and Zoology; Department of Tamil and Zoology upgraded as research centres.
1980Introduction of M.Sc. Physics
1983Introduction of M.Phil. English
1984Upgradation of Departmet of Botany or research centre.
1985Introduction of M.Phil. Botany; B.Com.
1986Introduction of M.Sc. Chemistry.
1987Conferment of Autonomous status; Introduction of B.Sc. Computer Science.
1994Introduction of B.Sc. Industrial Microbiology
1998Co-Education was introduced for the UG courses; Introduction of Self-financed course: M.Sc Microbiology course
1999Introduction of self-financed courses: M.Sc. Computer Science and M.M.S.
2000Introduction of self-financed courses: M.F.C, B.Com. and P.G.D.C.A.
2001Accrediation with 'Five star' status by NAAC
Introduction of self-financed courses: B.Sc. Bio-Technology and PGDCIT.
2002Introduction of self-financed courses: B.C.A. and Certificate Course in Bio-technology.
2003Introduction of Choice Based Credit System.
2004Upgradation of Department of Chemistry was upgraded as research centre
2005Upgradation of Department of English as research centre, Introduction of Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma courses in Tamil, Economics and Business Administration.
2006Upgradation of Department of Economics as research centre; Introduction of PGDMIDD course.
2007Re-Accredited with "A" Grade by NAAC; Introduction of M.Sc. Bioresource Management.
2008Introduction of self-financed courses: B.Sc. Computer Science, B.Sc. Information technology, M.Phil. Physics and M.Phil. Chemistry.
2009Introduction of self-financed courses M.Phil. Commerce.
2010Upgradation of Department of Physics as research center; Introduction of M.Phil Mathematics.
2011Introduction of self-financed course: M.H.R.D and Bachelor of Business administration. Establishment of UGC recognized Women's studies Centre.
2012Introduction of self-financed courses : B.A English,B.A.Economics and M.Phil. Economics. Up gradation of Departmnet of Mathematics as research center.
2013Re-accredited with 'A' grade by NAAC with CGPA 3.37 in the third cycle.
2014Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Human Resource Development for the establishment of National centre of excellence in Statistical and Mathematical modeling in Bioresource Management.
2015Introduction of self-financed courses: M.Sc. Bio-Technology, B.Com (CA), B.Sc. Mathematics, B.Sc. Microbiology. B.Sc. Psychology. Upgradation of National Centre of Excellence as Research Centre.
2016Upgradation of Department of Commerce as Research Center.
2017Introduction of self-financed courses: B.A. Tamil, B.Sc. Chemistry and M.Sc. Mathematics.
2018Introduction of self-financed courses: B.Sc. Physics and B.Com (CA). Ranked 44th in NIRF 2018.

2019Introduction of self-financed course: B.Com (Honours). Ranked 34th in NIRF 2019.
 
2020Introduction of self-financed course: B.Com (Business Process Services). Ranked 22nd in NIRF 2020.
 
2020Introduction of self-financed course: B.Sc (Computer Science in Cognitive Systems). Ranked 22nd in NIRF 2020.