Shining Stars among Non-Chennai Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu -3
This is the third article in the series of seven articles and in this article, we will be discussing the salient features of three well-known colleges of Tiruchirapalli city, the fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu. The most important features, obtained through personal feedback, are discussed in some detail.
Introduction
Tamil Nadu is fortunate to have a good number of colleges that have fairly good, or if not even very good, quality of education in some parts of the State. Tiruchirapalli is one such city. It is home to at least seven good colleges, that will always be remembered for their unique contributions to the quality of higher education. These colleges have been in existence for decades.
Those readers who would like to know something about Tiruchirapalli, may please refer to the first article in this series, Shining Stars among Non-Chennai Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu-1 that highlighted the salient features of three good Arts and Science colleges that will rank among the first ten of non-Chennai Arts and Science colleges -- St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore and the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College for Women, Tiruchirapalli. This article also carried information about Coimbatore city.
The second article in this series was focussed on the best three colleges of Coimbatore city---The Krishna College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, the PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, and the Kumaraguru College of Liberal Arts and Science, all of which are branded colleges of high quality.
Shining Stars Among Non-Chennai Arts and Science Colleges -2
In this article, we will discuss the salient features of three Tiruchirapalli colleges. These colleges are the Bishop Heber College, the Holy Cross College, and the National College. In the main, this article will focus on a) What is common to all the three colleges b) What is special about Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli b) Holy Cross College, Tiruchirapalli, and 3) What is special about the National College, Tiruchirapalli. What is common to all the three colleges
The three colleges have unique features of their own. Two of them, Bishop Heber and Holy Cross College started as Christian minority institutions, but are now, no more so. They have teachers and students from all faiths and religions. They have unique courses and serve the rural population of hundreds of villages around Tiruchirapalli city, in a big way. Yes. They do face the problem of students who transition from Tamil to the English medium in each of the courses and hence they do teach in both English and Tamil. The vital "exposure" problem is sought to be addressed through a number of personality development programs and guest lectures. The third college, National College also has a famous Engineering College of repute, the Saranathan College of Engineering, under its Management umbrella and is also making an impact.What is special about Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli
This is one college that is quite famous in Tiruchirapalli. The college offers a good quality Master's Degree in Social Work, and the specializations like Community Development and HR, which are part of this course, are already making a big impact in terms of the quality of education.
At the undergraduate level, Bishop Heber College, which is an Autonomous college of the Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli, has unique courses. For example, it runs the B.Com International Accounting in line with the ACCA qualification and the B.Com (Strategic Finance) in line with the CMA syllabus. It should be noted that both the ACCA and CMA qualifications are global qualifications that are virtual passports to international careers in finance. The B.Voc (Biotechnology) and the B.Voc (Accounting and Finance) are vocational degree courses, reportedly run with a big practical focus. The fairly good placement services are testimony to the quality of courses of this college. The MBA course run by the college is also famous and is rated as one of the best in the region, competing directly with the MBA course offered by the colleges affiliated to the Anna University, Chennai.
It should also be noted that this MBA course has tough competitors like the Indian Institute of Management, IIM-Tiruchirapalli, and the Bharathidasan Institute of Management based in the city. According to the locals, the MSc. (Bioinformatics) which is offered as a 5-year integrated course, after the plus two-stage, and the MSc. (Actuarial Science) course are also high-quality courses. Those contacted for this article were lawyers and chartered accountants from the city, who know the standard of this college quite intimately.
Contact Information:-
Address:-
Bishop Heber College( Autonomous)
Post-Box No.615
Tiruchirapalli 630 017
Phone:- 0431 -2770136/2770158
Email:-principalbhc.edu.in
Website:-bhc.edu.inWhart is special at Holy Cross College, Tiruchirapalli
This is a famous Autonomous College of the Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli, and is situated right in the heart of the town, and is exclusively for women.
Its unique courses are the MSc( Media and Communication) and the M.Phil course in the same subject. It also offers a doctorate degree in Visual Communication. The unique feature of the college is the high-quality of its faculty members, most of whom have a doctorate degree. In fact, the English department is highly rated as a "college of choice" for the undergraduate and post-graduate courses. The Bachelor of Rehabilitation Science (B.R.Sc) and the Master's in Rehabilitation Science (M.R..Sc) are highly job-oriented; they are perhaps the only courses of their kind in entire South India.
Similarly, the Holy Cross College Tiruchirapalli offers a very unique course that actually leads to a very good career in the care of those which speech deficiencies. It is called the Bachelor's degree in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (BASLP). This course reportedly has many takers. What is special about the National College, Tiruchirapalli
With the office of the President of this college in the safe hands of Mr.V.Krishnamurthi, the former illustrious Chairman and Managing Director of BHEL, SAIL and Maruthi Udyog,National College Tiruchirapalli college is making its own impact. It is a co-educational college of the city and it is also an autonomous college of Bharathidasam University.
Particular mention should be made of the B.Sc (Statistics) course, which is extremely unique in this part of the Tamil Nadu State. The college has an impressive record of placement of graduates with this qualification, and many go on to acquire higher qualifications from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkatta. According to significant people interviewed for this article, the college has a high-quality mathematics department and is also well known for two unique Diploma courses -- the Diploma in E-commerce and the Diploma in Econometrics. In conventional courses, the college has been around for decades and hence those who go in for higher qualifications in Physics and Chemistry, for example, chose to study in this college.
Contact Information:-
Address:-
National College (Autonomous)
Dindigul Road
Tiruchirapalli 620021
Phone:- 0431-2482995
Email:- principal@nct.ac.in
Website:- nct.ac.inConclusion
Given the fact that Tiruchirapalli is predominantly an agricultural town, with only the BHEL as the sole big organization that offers direct employment to over eight thousand people and indirect employment through the service sector and ancillary industries, the three colleges are doing a good job, with unique courses. The high-quality faculty members also provide very good inputs in the conventional courses. This is exactly why Tiruchirapalli is an educational hub of sorts.