Shining Stars among non-Chennai Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu-1
In this seven-part series, we will discuss a total of 21 Arts and Science Colleges of Tamil Nadu. What is common to them is that they are not based in Chennai, but in the other major cities of Tamil Nadu like Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirapalli, and a few other cities. Only the most important and distinct features of such colleges and the courses offered will be discussed in each article.
Introduction
This is the first article in the series of seven articles. The aim of this series is to highlight the most important features of unique courses run by these colleges, most of which are Autonomous Colleges, affiliated to the local State Universities.
As these colleges are based in different cities, a small note will be given about these cities pertinent to the colleges discussed in the article. The details will not be repeated in the next articles. This is to enable the reader to know a little about these cities, given the fact that those who live up North and other parts of India should know what to expect for their children, should they move to that particular city or even put their children in these colleges to study the various courses that have extremely good placement facilities in most cases.
In this article, we will discuss the salient features of two colleges from the cities of Tiruchirapalli, and Coimbatore.Tamil Nadu. In the main, we will discuss a) Some facts about Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli b) What's special about St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli c) What's special about PSG College of Arts and Science Coimbatore and d) What's special about Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College for Women, Tiruchirapalli.
In the second article of this series, we will be discussing the salient features of the courses offered by the three Coimbatore-based colleges, namely, the Sri Krishna Arts and Science College, the PSGR Krihsnammal College for Women and the Kumaraguru College of Liberal Arts and Science. Shining Stars among Non-Chennai Arts and Science Colleges -2Some facts about Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli
Coimbatore is a lovely city in the Western Ghats. It is right on the Kerala border. It is the second-largest city of Tamil Nadu, with a population close to twenty lakh people. It has a huge industrial base and an International Airport. It also has excellent connections to literally every city of India, by rail. It has the prestigious Shatabdi Express to Chennai and has intercity express trains to Mangalore and Bangalore as well. It is among the fastest-growing "mini-metro" cities in India. It has excellent hostel facilities in most colleges and also good private facilities nearby each college, where thousands of students stay and study the various courses.
Tiruchirapalli is the fourth largest city of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and houses a big unit of the Public Sector Company, BHEL. It has a string of excellent quality colleges, two of which are discussed in this article. It also has an International Airport and is rainfed, as the river Cauvery flows through it. It is among the fastest-growing B class cities in India. Most colleges have good hostels. Private hostel facilities are also available. What's special about St. Joseph's College Tiruchirapalli
This college is often referred to as the "Loyola of Tiruchirapalli". It should be mentioned that this college is also run by the same Society of Jesus and is 176 years old. It has an extremely strict discipline. Its most distinguished Alumni is late Dr.APJ Adbul Kalam, former President of India. It has been an Autonomous College for decades, with the degrees being conferred by the Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli. The college is situated right in the heart of the city and is just opposite the main bus station in the city.
It offers the usual courses in Tamil, English, and Economics for example. However, what distinguishes this college from all other colleges in Tamil Nadu is that it is a NAAC Accredited AA++ college in the IV cycle and is the best college in all of Tamil Nadu, when one excludes the Chennai colleges. It has a semi-urban ambience and the metro city influences are absent. In fact, there is only one problem with some courses. Most of the students are from the Tamil medium and they commute to the college from any distance of up to forty kilometres from so many villages, as the connectivity is excellent.
Since this is a bottleneck, the college goes on improving the standards of education every year, and the new courses being introduced are a sign of the changing times. For example, it now has a B.Com Integrated with the ACCA course. This will enable the students to have global placements. It also has a separate institute called the St.Joseph's Institute of Management (JIM) for the MBA course, within the same campus. It has also introduced the M.Sc ( Counselling Psychology) course and in the Vocational Stream, it has the B.Voc ( Soft Technology Development and System administration course. It has a twinning program and on the weekends, it offers the MBA course of the Pondicherry University through distance education, for which classes are conducted only on Sundays. This course is for the in-service personnel and this is the only college, apart from Loyola College, Chennai, which is authorized to run this course. Similarly, it is the only Tiruchirapalli college to offer to coach for the Common Proficiency Test(CPT), which qualifies one to seek admission to the Chartered Accountancy course of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
I can vouchsafe for the quality of education as an old student at this college. It should be always noted that St.joseph's College Tiruchirapalli has one of the best Faculty teams for conventional courses. Most students of Physics and Mathematics pass the entrance examinations conducted by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Anna Univesity 9lateral admission to the second year of B.Tech course) for higher studies and go on to do extremely well in their careers. This is largely due to the grinding that they get in the conventional courses.
Contact Information:-
St.Joseph's College, ( Autonomous)
Tiruchirapalli 620002
Phone:- 0-431-2700320/4226436
Email:- college@mail.sjetni.edu
Website:- www.sjctni.eduWhat's special about PSG College of Arts and Science Coimbatore
This is easily the second-best college after the St.joseph's College. A co-education college with a sprawling campus, in an excellent location, it is an autonomous college affiliated to the Bharathiyar Unversity, Coimbatore. The college itself has good hostels but there are private hostels for both men and women, nearby. The city has all facilities for an extremely decent and healthy living.
The PSG College of Arts and Science Coimbatore offers an extremely wide variety of courses. For example, In the B.Com degree course, it has the Business Analytics, Corporate Secretaryship, Foreign Trade, Professional Accounting, and Retail Marketing specializations. This range will compete effectively with most Chennai colleges. It also offers the MSc (Applied Microbiology) course and the
MSc(Applied Psychology) course. The M.Com ( International Business) is also offered. This college is well known for the quality of its Master's Degree in Social Work. It also offers the Post Graduate Diploma Courses in Business Management, Human Resources Management. and Industrial Safety.
The BBA ( Logistics) Management course is very famous. The M.Com (International Business) is reportedly a much sought after course of this college, as it has tremendous job potential. The college has an impressive record of one hundred placement. The high academic standards and the strict discipline followed add value to the quality of education imparted.
Contact Information:-
Address:-
PSG College of Arts and Science,
Avinashi Road
Civil Aerodrome Post
Coimbatore 641014
Phone Number:- 0422 4303300
Email:- pincipal@psgcas.ac.in
Website:- www.psgcas.ac.in What's special about Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College for Women, Tiruchirapalli
Among its most celebrated Alumni, among several others, is Ms. Nirmala Seetharaman, the present Union Finance Minister. This college, affiliated to the Bharathidasan University, offers the usual courses but also has a good community college with its unique programs. There are the six-month certificate courses in Horticultural Science, Apparel made up and Home Furnishing, Food Processing, and Electronics Circuit Designer and Electrician courses. This college is also situated right in the heart of the city and at a walkable distance from the main bus station in the city.
Also on offer is the certificate course in Beauty&Wellness -Alternate Therapy-Yoga course. The courses mentioned above are also offered at the next level, the one-year Diploma level, and the two years Advance Diploma level. This Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College is extremely famous for women and is the top-of-the-mind college for parents wanting to put their girl children in a reputed college, with a good record of placement. The same kind of vocational course, offered in sericulture, is quite famous and has produced many entrepreneurs.
In particular, the BA(Economics) course and the B.Com course offered by this college, are reputed for their good quality, according to students who had passed out of this college.
Contact information:-
Address:-
SDeethalakshmi Ramaswami College
Tiruchirapalli 620002
Phone number:- 0431-2704855
Email:-info@srcollege.edu.in
Website:- www.srcollege.edu.in Conclusion
This is the first article in the series of seven articles. The most important features that are unique to the St.Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli, the PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, and the Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College, Tiruchirapalli have been discussed above. It should be noted that these colleges have the best quality of education in even conventional courses.