St. Mary’s College was founded by the Servite Sisters, Congregation of Mother of Sorrows, Servants of Mary in the year 1948. Since its inception, it has embarked on its distinct journey of empowering young women of the coastal region, Thoothukudi. Prioritising education for the first-generation learners is the distinctiveness of the institution. Majority of the students are first generation learners from the marginalised families of the region. St. Mary’s envisions to uplift the women from the lower strata of society to an elevated status through their committed efforts and attainment of programme outcomes and graduate attributes. All educational practices are oriented towards fulfilling the vision of the institution “To make young women agents of an egalitarian society through liberative education.” The core values of the institution and its motto ‘Fide Vivant - Live by Faith’ is reflected in its academic programmes and cocurricular activities.

The institution adheres to the guidelines of the Statutory Regulatory Bodies and frames the curricula of the academic programmes with its vision for whole person education. It has moulded and enriched the life of the first-generation learners through the curricula with its specific focus on Sustainable Developmental Goals, Indian Knowledge System, the apt pedagogy for the millennial learners, the experiential learning methods, the field and the research projects, the development of e-content, the Students’ Induction Programmes, the cocurricular and the extracurricular activities, the Community Development Programme, the ethics classes, the mentor-mentee system and the counselling support. The institution has instilled confidence among the students in such a way that they were able to compete with their peer group nation-wide and emerge as toppers in the MOOCs from the SWAYAM NPTEL Criterion VII SSR Cycle V portal. The OBE curricula offer Core Courses, Core Skill-based Courses, Elective Courses, Ability Enhancement Courses, and Skill Enhancement courses that develop and enhance the capabilities of the students. Sports students are given special coaching, and they won Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Overall Championship 29 times out of 31. The Career Oriented Certificate courses have increased the potentiality of the learners and help the socially and the economically disadvantaged young women secure placement, self-employment, start entrepreneurial ventures and build a successful career, thereby promoting their socio- economic status. Thanks to efforts of the institution towards women empowerment, Thoothukudi ranks third in the Human Development Index in Tamil Nadu.