COLLEGE PROFILE

St. Mary’s College (Autonomous), a premier institution of higher education, founded by the Congregation of Mother of Sorrows servants of Mary in the year 1948, plays a significant role in shaping the destiny of innumerable young coastal women in and around Thoothukudi. With a proud legacy of 75 years, the college has excelled in every discipline keeping in pace with the global trends in the academia. Enhancing human dignity by empowering the women has been its main concern. Started primarily to benefit the catholic minority, the college strives hard to reach out to the society, mostly identified as economically backward and socially underprivileged. Slow and steady progress marked the growth of the college and higher education for women gained momentum. The strong back up of committed service rendered by the teaching faculty and supportive staff has brought many laurels to our institution. Quality initiative, Quality sustenance and Quality enhancement are the keywords of every activity.

St. Mary’s College lives upto the founders’ lofty vision of making young women agents of an egalitarian society through liberative education. The pursuit of our institution is to channelise fruitfully the potentials of the young generation and help them experience a gratifying growth in their personality and career. We are proud that the college today is equipped with the best of faculty, infrastructure and systems to support its mission to teach and train women to be emotionally balanced, morally upright, spiritually integrated, socially sensitive and globally competitive. The institution imparts an education that promises an integral growth of knowledge, skills and values, thus promoting an environment of composite culture and religious harmony in the campus.

The college, affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, has attained Autonomous Status in the year 2009. Recognizing the great potential within the campus, the NAAC has reaccredited the institution with ‘A+’ grade in its fourth cycle. Learning is made more informative, interactive and collaborative with efficient and effective ICT enabled teaching. With the implementation of autonomy, the institution has been able to design its own curricula and evaluation system. The flexibility and space provided by autonomy has paved way for widening our academic arena with the inputs from the external experts and representatives from the industry in our curriculum designing exercise.

The academic activities of all disciplines are grouped into five Schools to augment research, design pioneering courses, enable efficient teaching, and facilitate effective learning. Transfer of knowledge among schools enables the learners to perceive and explore various avenues of research and to empower the student community to face the global demands of the 21st century.

The college has opted for Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for the students admitted in UG, PG and M.Phil. programmes from 2009 onwards. The CBCS provides ample scope for academic innovation. Reforms such as online tests, online mark entry, issue of hall tickets with photo identity, publication of results online within two weeks after completion of the examination are adopted for systematized conduct of examination.

Research culture is promoted in upgraded research centres viz., Botany, Zoology, Mathematics, History, English and Commerce. The research centres funded by DST-FIST, to enhance the existing infrastructure, provide a conducive atmosphere for the promotion of research activities. The Research ambience in the campus is furthered by the Library subscribed to a digital library of 35, 000 books and 3,06,000 journals through N-List- INFLIBNET, NDL. Internet connection provided to all departments helps the research scholars to access e-journals.

The college offers 9 certificate courses, conducted after the regular college timing for the first year UG students to enhance their life skills. Awareness of social issues is created through the outreach activity TOUCH (Towards Upliftment and Community Healing). All the second year UG students participate in the programme which is an integral part of the curriculum. Career Oriented Programmes, for all the final year UG students, are conducted to hone their employability skills. Career skills are given due considerations while designing and developing the curriculum. In this context, the college also emphasises and prioritises the thrust of value system within its curriculum, as it is the only means of producing integrated personalities.

A holistic education with an overall personality development is ensured by involving students in academic, curricular and co-curricular activities. Students participate in internship programmes, field projects, students projects, paper presentations, and extra-curricular activities. Most of the activities are framed involving mass participation of students in activities, in the Fine Arts, Sports, festival celebrations and rallies. Spiritual life and holistic growth is ensured to a larger extent within the campus both in the learning and living environment - the hostel.

The Student Counselling Forum leads the students in a regular one to one counselling along with Life Skill Training Programme and a holistic mass counselling. These activities have increased the morale of students.

The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) endeavours to optimize the integration of modern methods of teaching, learning and evaluation. Some of the faculty members are funded by UGC, TNSCST and other agencies to widen research activities. The college also has the credit of receiving DST-FIST fund and financial support from UGC for the construction of Indoor stadium, Gymnasium, Equal Opportunity Centre and 100 Bedded Sports Hostel.

Extensive strides have been taken in Academics, Research, Curricular, Co-curricular, Ethical Education and Outreach Activities towards sustaining its growth as a competent institution. The college has groomed generations of young women through its conscious efforts and has enlivened the vision of its pioneers by imparting value conscious integrated education to the young women ensuring their continual growth for more than seven decades.