Meenakshi College for Women (Autonomous)
Kodambakkam, Chennai 600 024
(Affiliated to the University of Madras)
History of the College
Meenakshi College for Women was founded in the year 1975, the United Nations International Women's Year, by the Ganapati Educational Trust. The Trust was formed earlier the same year by Prof. K. R. Sundararajan, who had, as way back as 1947, founded a highly successful insitution, Indian Institute of Engineering Technology, to offer the AMIE course for those who could not afford an Engineering education. The idea was to provide higher educational opportunities to girl students who would otherwise have not afforded it.
His efforts bore fruit with the support of Late Sri R. Venkataraman, Former President of India. Soon, his daughter, Dr. K. S. Lakshmi, took over the reins of the fledgling College as its Principal, and served the College in that capacity for over three decades. She continues to serve the College as Secretary to this day.
The College has blossomed from being an institution with 100 Pre-University students, to one with over 3000 studetns today. It was the youngest in the city to be granted Autonomy by the UGC and the University of Madras, and has the distinction of being granted an A+ rating by NAAC in the very first accreditation.
The College infrastructure too has grown from a single-storeyed two-wing building to a multi-storeyed building with ground and four floors with each floor having four wings.
Ethos of the College
Meenakshi College for Women is an institution of higher education that has, over the more than four decades since its founding, blossomed into a veritable temple of learning whose guiding principles are founded on the noble values that service to humanity must be ever selfless and that educating the girl child is the loftiest form of worship. The College has, through the years, transformed itself in keeping with modern society and technological advancements while remaining wisely insistent on preserving and cherishing traditional values. The College considers it important to share with the youth, good personal and social values along with a deep appreciation for and a strong sense of pride in India’s culture, tradition and heritage.
The top leadership of the College is uncompromising in its ideals of providing quality higher education to the girl child based on a strong sense of personal, spiritual, societal and patriotic values. The success of the College has as its propelling force, a leadership that is honest, wise, benevolent, committed, democratized, caring and receptive. And this percolates through the hierarchy to the last student.
The College has been recognized as a vibrant institution working relentlessly for the cause of women’s education. The College is committed to shaping young women into skilled, responsible, disciplined and socially conscious citizens with a strong value base. It enjoys an enviable track record in producing some of the finest and most disciplined young women in the country, who excel in academics, arts and sports.
The College predominantly applies itself to educating the socially and economically disadvantaged sections of society and first-generation learners, and has been succeeding in providing them a rich academic experience. The College has devised unique support mechanisms so that these students rise to compete on a par with those who come from more privileged and educated family backgrounds. The results over the years have been very fulfilling.
The College caters to the advanced learners among the students by providing a rich repertoire of value-added courses, exposure to research and in-built mechanisms to motivate them to scale up their performance.
Through extension activities, students imbibe the sterling values of empathy for fellow beings, respect for others’ views and abilities and a consciousness of the environment and society around them.
There is a beautiful temple for Goddess Sharadamba, the Goddess of Learning, on campus, and it also has shrines for Lord Ganapathi and Lord Venkateswara. The College is ever blessed by the presence and grace of the Mother Goddess.