Ethiraj College for Women

Founded in 1948, the formative years witnessed a strong foundation through introduction of undergraduate (UG) courses in Economics, Botany, Chemistry, History, Zoology and English Literature along with the infrastructural facilities, resulting in the construction of the Science Block, Hostel, Open Air Theatre and the Old Library Block. The landmark development of this decade was the auditorium, which to this day remains the pride of the College. The decade of 1968 – 1978 saw the growth of the College with the introduction of Commerce, Mathematics and Physics at the UG level, and a number of post-graduate (PG) courses and the construction of the PG block. A significant development of the next phase was the introduction of Evening College in 1981. Now, the thrust was on research with the introduction of M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes. The addition of the Annexe Campus of 59 grounds augured a new direction in the growth of the College. 1990-2000 saw a steady growth with the introduction of a variety of job oriented self-funded UG courses like Corporate Secretaryship, B.Com (Bank Management), BBA (Business Administration), B.Sc. Biochemistry, B.Sc. Microbiology and M.Sc. Plant Biology & Plant Bio-technology and the introduction of post-graduate AICTE approved courses, MBA and MCA, which was an important milestone in the growth of the College. The construction of New Science Block and dormitories for the hostel marked this new phase of development. The beginning of the next decade, witnessed the Day College becoming autonomous along with a momentous growth of the College in its infrastructure: the N & D block, COE block, New Library, New hostel, Business Studies and Information Technology Block, all adding up to 2,66,000 sq. ft. Besides these, the College acquired a Language Lab and an Instrumentation Centre besides establishing online access to the holdings in the Library, Internet Centre and Computer Labs. The College entered the global arena by signing a MOU with the British Council for teaching Business English Certificate and First Certificate in English. The core competency has been strengthened in many ways to suit the changing scenario. In the Aided stream, Botany was converted into Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, one section of History into Tourism and Travel Management, two sections of Zoology into Advanced Zoology and Biotechnology. In the Self-supporting stream, Economics was converted into Business Economics and one section of English to English and Communication Skills. At the PG level, a course in Human Rights and Duties Education was introduced during 2002. New courses namely, B.Sc. Clinical Nutrition, M.Sc. Physics, M.Sc. Foods & Nutrition were also introduced from 2005 in the Self-supporting stream. In 2006, B.Sc. Visual Communication, M.Sc. Biochemistry and M.Sc. Microbiology were introduced.