St. Thomas College (Autonomous), Thrissur, is a government-aided Catholic college located in Thrissur, Kerala, India. Established as a college in 1918, the college is considered to be one of the oldest and premier institutions of higher education in Princely State of Cochin. It is the first Catholic college in Kerala and is conducted by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur. The college is affiliated with the University of Calicut.
The college attained Autonomous status in 2014 and was recognised as College with Potential for Excellence by University Grants Commission in 2016. The college was accredited with A++ grade in its fourth cycle of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation, scoring CGPA of 3.70 on a four-point scale in October 2022. It is ranked 57th among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024.
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History
Started as a lower secondary school in 1889, the founder, the first Vicar Apostolic of Thrissur, Mar Adolphus Edwin Medlycott, named it St. Thomas’ College. The college started to function in the compound of present-day Bishop's House compound. In 1918, it was raised to a second-grade college in arts, affiliated to the University of Madras. The college was elevated as a first-grade college by the University of Madras in April 1925, and it is the second non-government college in Kerala to achieve that status.
The buildings of the college were constructed in a phased manner. Rev. Medlycott has given a description about the college at the time of his return in 1896 as below:
The bishop on taking charge found that there were practically no schools, ... he took early steps to open as many elementary parish schools as possible; within nine years (1888-96) the vicariate was provided with no less than 231 elementary parish schools for both sexes, educating over 12,000 children, besides a high school (St. Thomas's College), with 95 students;.... plans were prepared to house the above college in a handsome structure.
The first building of the college is the one which is having the tower. Menacherry Hall was built in the year 1941. The Science Block (present day Academic Block on the opposite side of the road) was built in 1956.
In 2004, St. Thomas' was accredited with a B++ grade by NAAC, an autonomous organization instituted by the UGC. In September 2010, the college was re-accredited with A grade by NAAC. The college attained A Grade in its NAAC reaccreditation in 2016. In October 2022, the college attained A++ grade in its fourth cycle of NAAC accreditation.
The year 2018-2019 was celebrated as Sathyaprayan 1919-2019, the centennial as second grade college and the commemoration was inaugurated by Shri Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, on 7 August 2018.
Academic programmes
The college offers graduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. level programmes in a wide range of subjects. There are twenty-four teaching departments (including ten research departments and the thirteen postgraduate departments) which encompass 140 teachers.
Departments
Humanities
Department of History
Department of Political Science
Languages
Department of English
Department of Hindi
Department of Malayalam
Department of Sanskrit
Mathematical Sciences
Department of Mathematics
Department of Statistics
Computer Science and Application
Department of Computer Science
Department of Computer Application
Department of Data Science
Life Sciences
Department of Botany
Department of Zoology
Physical Sciences
Department of Physics
Department of Chemistry
Department of Electronics
Social Sciences
Department of Commerce
Department of Criminology and Police Science
Department of Economics
Doctoral Studies (PhD)
The college is offering research programmes under the following ten departments:
Department of Botany
Department of Chemistry
Department of Commerce
Department of Computer Science
Department of Economics
Department of English
Department of Mathematics
Department of Physics
Department of Statistics
Department of Zoology
Notable alumni
Alphons Joseph, Malayalam Film Music Director
Ashok Menon, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
Anil Akkara, Former Member Of Kerala Legislative Assembly
Ancy Sojan, Indian Athlete
Atlas Ramachandran, Former Banker, Entrepreneur
Biju Menon, Actor
Thalappil Pradeep, Indian Scientist
C. Achutha Menon - Indian Communist Leader and Chief Minister of Kerala state
C. Janardhanan, Communist Leader, Former Member of Parliament
Chinmayananda Saraswati - Chinmaya Mission
C. Raveendranath, Former Minister for General education Government of kerala
Devan- Malayalam Film Actor
E. Santhosh Kumar, Winner of The Kerala Sahithya Academy Award for the best novel in 2012.
Eknath Easwaran - Internationally respected spiritual teacher
Eluvathingal Devassy Jemmis - Padma Shri awardee, Professor at Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research
EMS Namboodiripad - Indian Communist Leader and first Chief Minister of Kerala state
George Alapatt - Fourth Bishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur
Notable faculty
Joseph Mundassery
A. Sreedhara Menon
George Menachery
C. Raveendranath
K. A. Jayaseelan
Syam Sudhakar