St Teresa’s College, Ernakulam has a deep-rooted history. Established in 1925, it was the first women’s college of erstwhile Cochin State and the second such institute in Kerala set up by the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of St Teresa.
With Sister Beatrice as its first principal, the college began with just 41 students. During the initial days, it was a second grade Arts College affiliated to the Madras University. It was upgraded to the status of first grade college in 1927.The college played a pivotal role in history by converting its building into a military hospital during World War II. During the war, in 1942, the college was shifted to Thrissur and was brought back to Ernakulam in 1944. It underwent qualitative and quantitative growth post independence, and since then there has been no looking back. Today, the college is one of the most sought-after colleges for women. “St Teresa’s is a college that has always stood for women empowerment and there are a lot of young girls joining the college today, bearing in mind the importance of social commitment,” says Nirmala Padmanabhan, HoD, Department of Economics.
In the beginning of the academic year 1957-58, the affiliation of the college was transferred to Kerala University, formerly known as Travancore University. After its golden jubilee in 1975, the college implemented the College Science Improvement Programme and College Humanities and Social Science Improvement Programme. BCom was introduced later in 1977, as its demand began to grow among women students. In 1995, BSc Computer Application, BA Communicative English and MA Economics were introduced. St Teresa’s college, which received autonomy status last year is a recipient of the R Sankar Award, instituted by the government of Kerala, for the Best College of the State and for all-round excellence in 1996.
The college received the R Sankar award for the best non-special grade private college in 1997. During the same academic year, the college union was selected as the third best under Mahatma Gandhi University. The college celebrated its platinum jubilee in 2000 and received a ‘five star’ rating from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council NAAC.
Courses offered
Today, St Teresa’s offers Bachelor of Arts in Economics, English, History and Sociology; Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Home Science, and Apparel and Fashion Design; and BCom. Postgraduate courses offered at the college are Master of Arts in English, Economics and Sociology, Master of Science in Botany, Home Science, Physics and Chemistry apart from PG Diploma in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics and PG Diploma in Fashion Designing and Apparel Merchandising. The self-financing courses offered at St Teresa’s are BA in French, Bharatanatyam, and English Literature and Communication Studies, BCom, BSc Computer Application, MCom, MA Bharatanatyam and MA History. The college offers four add-on courses sponsored by UGC: a three-level certificate course in Plant Resource Development and Management, one-year certificate course in Graphic Design and Animation, one year certificate course in Tourism, French Language and Cultural History of Kerala and a certificate course in Web Designing and Animation.The off-campus centre of Mahatma Gandhi University in St Teresa’s College offers self-financing courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, such as BCom with Computer Applications, MSc Information Technology, MBA, MCom, MCA and BBA.
St Teresa’s is also an approved partner institution of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi under the convergence scheme. “We are introducing three new courses such as Bachelor of Management Studies and International Business, PG Diploma in Management and Business Analytics, BCA in Cloud Computing and Information Security,” says Sajimol Augustin M, Principal, St Teresa’s.
The campus is located in the heart of the city. The college formed the first women’s basketball team in the University and the State in 1961. Today the campus has a well maintained basketball court. Due to the limited space in which the college functions, the campus has opted for vertical expansion and is now equipped with a library, a computer science centre, hostels, canteen, a chapel and an internet cafe. A new indoor stadium has also been built on campus.
— deepthi@newindianexpress.com