St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli (SJC) is a private Catholic college in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established in 1844 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It is an affiliated college of Bharathidasan University.
In 2016, the College was one of only twelve colleges in India to be given Special Heritage Status by the Government of India.
Contents
Introduction
The College is one of the oldest higher education institutions in India. It is a private, aided, Catholic Christian Minority Institution. Its motto is ‘Pro Bono et Vero’ (for the Good and the True).
The College was founded in 1844 by French Jesuit priests, along with other European Jesuits. The College was affiliated to the University of Madras until 1982, after which it became affiliated with the Bharathidasan University, with which it remains affiliated.
It caters to the educational needs of wide and divergent sections of students with an emphasis on the poor and downtrodden.
History
Due to the efforts of Jesuit missionaries, the College made a humble beginning in a thatched roof with just one student and five Jesuit teachers at the coastal town of Nagapattinam in 1844, to cater for the educational needs of Native Indians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans without any discrimination. However, the student strength rose to 38 including 12 Indians by the close of that year.
In 1845, the College had 74 students, including 40 Indians. Students were taught Greek, Latin, Tamil, French, English, Geometry and Algebra. During the initial years, the College faced several hardships and deep distress due to inferno, tornado and cholera, all of which took a heavy toll on the College in the form of loss of life and property.
Until the establishment of the University of Madras in 1858, the College functioned more like free-lances in the field of higher education, offering educational services at free of cost to the desired students. After it was affiliated to the University of Madras in 1866, it began to be governed by University rules and regulations and its strength rose to 400 students. The College was by then offering Matriculation, Intermediate (also called F.A in those days) and B.A. degree courses.
Due to administrative reasons, the college was shifted to Trichinopoly, the centrally located town of Tamil Nadu, on 18 January 1881. No sooner the College had begun working from Trichinopoly than the cholera struck. Through sheer commitment, persistence and divine assistance, the College could tide over this huge crisis and continued to serve the cause of education and students' welfare.
In 1896, the College established a Symphony Orchestra Band to prepare students for a professional career in music. In 1900, the College introduced science courses as a response to the initiatives of the University to promote the study of sciences. To meet growing infrastructural requirements, the College completed the construction of two majestic buildings, the Lawley Hall and Digby Hall, by 1907. In 1911, the College inaugurated honours courses in Physics, Mathematics, Economics and History after a visit by the Madras University Commission in 1906 which strongly recommended the commencement of such courses.
In 1924, a course on Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was introduced, which was offered to the science students of the Intermediate and BA classes. A well-equipped workshop was set up with a financial outlay of Rs. 80000/= for teaching the course. However, this course was subsequently closed after a few years for want of demand.
Credentials
UGC
In June 1978, college was conferred the autonomous status by a decree of the syndicate of the University of Madras. St. Joseph's College was one among the 8 colleges received the Autonomous status in Phase-I of UGC.
NIRF
The annual feature of the ranking (done by NBA) by the MHRD initiative under 5 category, which is a measure of the performance of all higher education institutions at the college category is growing substantially from 2018 onwards as follows [Year : All India Rank (% / No. of Participating institutions)]: 2018:28 (54.41% /1087), 2019 :39 (54.70% /1304), 2020: 31(59.09%/1802), 2021:27 (59.09%/1802), 2022:26 (61.60 / 2270), 2023:25 (62.48/2746).
Centres of Excellence
Jerome Centre for Information and Communication (JCICT) - Estd.1998; It is one of the 4 four Computer Centres (others are departmental lab specific) hosting our College all ICT related activities for the benefit of staff and students such as maintaining the college website, ERP, online examinations, Wi-Fi, etc.
Archbishop Casmir Instrumentation Centre (ACIC) - Estd.2009.
Joseph's Hub for Languages (JHL) - Estd.2023
Institutes of Excellence
Rapinat Herbarium – It is a Taxonomic Research Centre which preserves a collection of specimens. 20 thousand specimens are digitized and the centre has identified 20 specimens new to science.
Camboulives Band - Estd.1896; It serves as a conservatory.
Newton Natural History Museum - Estd.1881; houses specimens, artefacts, geological materials, rock particles, numismatics and philately
Academics
The College offers 18 Undergraduate, 20 Postgraduate, 13 M.Phil. (suspended due to UGC new regulation), and 15 Ph.D. programmes besides 2 B.Voc. programmes & 1 Honours. The School System was introduced in 2014 by forming five different schools with a view to maximizing resources, [1] sharing expertise across disciplines and enhancing lateral mobility in order to achieve holistic development, cross-discipline exposure and augmenting employment opportunity. It has a strong staff strength with 320 plus teaching and 135 plus non-teaching staff. The college has a century - old Museum, Herbarium and Band, besides a library with 1.77 Lakh+ volumes of books, 5100 rare collections and 200+ print journals.
Notable alumni
Politics
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India
D. Napoleon, actor and former Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment
N. Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner of India and Padma Bhushan award winner
A. J. John, Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin, Governor of Madras State, Indian freedom fighter and statesman
Panampilly Govinda Menon, Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin, freedom fighter and lawyer
P. T. Chacko, first opposition leader of kerala, second home minister of Kerala, freedom fighter and lawyer.
P. K. Ittoop, former MLA of Kerala Legislative Assembly
S. P. Adithanar, former Tamil Nadu Minister for Cooperation, and founder of the newspaper Dina Thanthi
Joseph Mundassery, Keralan politician and literary critic
Major Mariappan Saravanan, Indian army hero of Batalik, recipient of the Vir Chakra
Religion
Bishop Joseph Pallikaparampil, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Palai, Kerala
Archbishop Michael Augustine, former Archbishop of Pondicherry and Cuddalore
Bishop Rajarethinam Arokiasamy Sundaram, former Bishop of Thanjavur
Fr Duraiswami Simon Amalorpavadass, priest and theologian
Academic
G. N. Ramachandran, biophysicist
V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, historian, indologist, and dravidologist
R. S. Krishnan, experimental physicist and discoverer of the Krishnan Effect
Balasubramanian Viswanathan, material scientist and emeritus professor at IIT Madras
Subramanian Kalyanaraman, neurosurgeon, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
E. S. Raja Gopal, physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
Fr K. M. Matthew SJ, priest and botanist
Arts
Sandilyan, writer
Sujatha, writer
A. Srinivasa Raghavan, Tamil writer
Srirangam Kannan, musician and artist
S. A. Ashokan, actor famous for villain roles in Tamil films
Prabhu Solomon, film director
Vasanth, film director
Sam C. S., music director and musician
Law
A. R. Lakshmanan, former judge, Supreme Court of India
S. Ashok Kumar, former judge, Madras High Court and Andhra Pradesh High Court
Sport
Arokia Rajiv, Indian athlete