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Coordinates: 12°55′17″N 80°07′19″E / 12.921293°N 80.121971°E
| Madras Christian College | |
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| Motto | In Hoc Signo (With this on your banner, you will win!) |
| Established | 1837 |
| Type | Private (Minority Institution) |
| Location | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Campus | Sub-Urban |
| Website | mcc.edu.in |
The Madras Christian College in Chennai,is one of the oldest colleges in Asia and was established in 1837. Currently, the college is affiliated to the University of Madras, but functions as an autonomous institution from its campus in Tambaram, Chennai. The college has been awarded the prestigious A+ rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. The India Today Magazine in its recent survey (June,2007) places MCC among the Top Ten Arts and Science Colleges in India in all the three streams—Arts, Science and Commerce.[1] MCC has retained this position as per India Today's 2009 survey.[2]
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History
In 1835, two Chaplains of the Church of Scotland in Madras, Rev George James Laurie and Rev Matthew Bowie started a School - the St. Andrew's School, on the corner of Randalls Road in Egmore. They requested the Church of Scotland to send a missionary to run it. The General Assembly's school was opened by the Rev. John Anderson in a rented house on the east side of Armenian Street (Georgetown), in the heart of Madras, with the Headmaster and 59 boys from St Andrew's School forming the core. It was named after the supreme governing body of the Church of Scotland, and aimed at attracting high caste pupils. The stated objective was to "convey as great as an amount of truth as possible through the channel of a good education especially of Bible truth". The college grew from a small school to a 375-acre (1.52 km2) wooded campus through the guidance of renowned educationalist and visionary Dr.William Miller, who started hostels, various academic and cultural associations, which shaped MCC into a premier institution in South Asia. The institution, after 100 years of life in the heart of the city, migrated to the verduous, sprawling Tambaram campus in 1937. The Rev. Dr. A.J. Boyd led the college for 18 long years (1938-56). It is said that Dr. Boyd knew each of his students personally, as illustrated from General Krishnaswamy Sundarji's autobiography where he writes that when he wanted to join the army, discontinuing his studies, Dr. Boyd told him not to as he thought that he will end up as a good doctor than a good soldier.
After Dr. Boyd, Prof Macphail became the Principal, who was succeeded by the first Indian Principal, Dr.Chandran Devanesan in 1962. Imbued with Gandhian vision, Dr Devanesen redefined the scope of education by involving the staff and the students in the neighborhood community. This decade (1962-72) is affectionately called "The Devanesan Decade". Many Principals of this historic institution have been Vice-Chancellors of Universities across India and have distinguished themselves as successful educationalists and able administrators.
The present principal is Dr.Alexander Jesudason.
Distinction
The college was one of the first in India to be granted Autonomy in 1978 and the first batch of Autonomous graduates passed out in 1981. The year 2006 marks the Silver Jubilee of Autonomy for Madras Christian College.
Academics
The college offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Arts, Science, and Commerce streams. Undergraduate programmes in vocational streams of Archaeology, Musicology (Arts) and Industrial Fish and Fisheries (Science) are also offered. The college also offers Master of Computer Application programme. A number of departments at the college also offer M. Phil and PhD programmes. The college has 38 departments including day and evening streams, with more than 5,000 students, half of whom notably are girls (MCC has a rich tradition of admitting girl students since 1939, and the lady faculty members since 1940.[3]. The institution has 220 odd faculty members, more than half of whom possessing Doctorates.[4]. The Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology apart from regular teaching and research is also assisting students through websites like Phycolab and Center for Floristics Research created and posted by their staff.
Campus
The 365-acre (1.48 km2) campus is known for its deer and trees, and is distinguished by a lake encompassed within the campus. It is the second largest scrub jungle in Asia, actively used by various departments like Botany and Zoology for their practical work.The college is well known for encouraging student leadership and governance among students through the College Union Society in which, all students are members.The college has five resident hostels (Halls) called St. Thomas's Hall , Selaiyur Hall, Bishop Heber Hall, Martin Hall earlier known as Womens Hostel; and Margret Hall (Inaugurated in the year 2009), each with their own activities. Yet the most famous of these traditions is the inter-collegiate cultural programme titled "Deep Woods"organised by the College Union Society which attracts students from around the country for three days and is famous for the Creativity, Rock Shows, Light Music and Fashion Show.
The College is associated with the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School in Chetput, and three others schools in Tambaram - the Oxfam, RSL and the Campus Schools.
Alumni
STATEMAN S. Radhakrishnan, former President of India
FREEDOM FIGHTERS B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya S. Satyamurti Nyapathi Subba Rao K.P. Kesava Menon K. Kelappan MC Rajah Konda Venkatappiah
GANDHIANS Kumarappa Brothers, Khasa Subba Rao S.K. George P.T. Ummer Koya
ARMY GENERAL General K. Sunderj, former Chief of Army Staff
CENTRAL MINISTERS/ POLITICIANS R.K. Shanmugham Chetty, John Mathai, T.T. Krishnamachari - Three of the first four Finance Ministers of India Prakash Karat, R.Velu (Minister of State for Railways)
GOVERNORS B.Gopal Reddy (Madhya Pradesh) Sir Mohamed Usman (Madras) KC. Abraham ( Andhra Pradesh) M.M. Rajendran (Orissa)
CHIEF MINISTER P.Munuswami Naidu (Madras Presidency 1930-32)
DIPLOMATS/CIVIL SERVANTS/BUREAUCRATS Sardar KM. Panikkar ,K.P.S. Menon, A.P. Venkateswaran, KS. Raghunath -( Foreign Secretaries) FV Arul, former Chief Officer Interpol TN Seshan - (former Chief Election Commissioner) Vijaya Rama Rao - former Director, C.B.I. T.P. Seetharam - former Press Secretary, The President of India S. Narayanan - Finance Secretary, Government of India
PARLIMENT/ASSEMBLY SPEAKERS P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan - former speaker, Tamil Nadu Assembly A.Easwara Reddy - former Speaker, A.P. Assembly Tambi Durai - former Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha
SCIENTISTS Raja Ramanna (Nuclear Science) E.C.G. Sudharshan (Physicist and winner, Third World Prize) R. Y. George (first Indian Scientist to land on Antarctica)
SPORTS PERSONS Eric Prabhakar represented India in the 1948 Olympics and a Rhodes Scholar C.D. Gopinath- India Cricket Team K.E. Kaliah, India Hockey team T. Sunder Raj represented India in Athletics P. Sankar, the only Indian to officiate at the FIFA 2002 World Cup in Foot Ball
BUSINESSMEN / ENTREPRENEURS / INDUSTRIALISTS / EXECUTIVES D.C. Kothari (Kothari Ltd.,) Mammen Mappilai (M.R.F.) Suresh Krishna (T.V.S.) Vikram Reddy (Nutrine) Jagadish Chandran (Premier Mills) Prakash Kuruvilla (HSBC) Ashok Narasimhan (LT., U.S.A.,) Ms. lndra K. Nooyi (Chairperson, ,PepsiCo World)
VICE-CHANCELLORS John Mathai (Bombay) R.Venkataratnam Naidu (Madras University) Mahomed Usman (Madras University) A. Lakshmanasami Mudaliar (V.C. Madras University for 26 years) C. Ramalinga Reddy ( Andhra University) Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed ( Kashmir, and founder of New College and SIET, Chennai) Govidarajulu ( Sri Venkateswara University) D. Sadasiva Reddy ( Osmania University) SP Adinarayana (Annamalai University) Chandran Devanesen (North Eastern Hill University, Shillong) M. Abel (Sri Krishnadevaraya University)
LEGAL PROFESSIONALS Alladi Krishna Swami Iyer, Member, Constituent Assembly PV Rajamannar, former Chief Justice, Madras High Court. Bopanna (former Chief Justice, Karnataka High Court) Balakrishna Eradi (former Judge, Supreme Court)
ECONOMISTS K.N. Raj Raja J. Chelliah
MEDIA/JOURNALISM/CINEMA/MUSIC MS Kamat, Journalist K.Nageswara Rao, founder Andhra Patrika Gemini Ganesan - Cinema actor Handel Manuel - Music Ninan, Ajit - Political Cartoonist T.N. Ninan - Chief Editor, Business Standard Sashi Kumar Menon - Asia Media Foundation David Davidar - C.E.O. Penguin India
POETS/SCOLARS Manjeswara Govinda Pai(kannada) Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Telugu)
HEALTH/PUBLIC CARE Sudarshan Devanesen - Member of the Order of Canada for Community Health Dayalan Devanesen - Member of the Order of Australia for work among the Aborigines K. Mani - Nephrologist Pratap C. Reddy (Chairman, Apollo Hospitals)
THEOLOGIANS V.S. Arzariah - the first Indian Bishop K.T. Paul - former president, Y.M.C.A. P. Chenchiah, V. Chakkarai, D.G. Moses, A.J. Appasamy - Well-known Indian theologians D.T. Niles, Wesley Ariarajah - former officers at World Council of Churches. Geneva Canon Ivor Smith Cameron - One of the Chaplains to her Majesty, the Queen of England K. Rajaratnam - former President, N.C.C.I. Paul Sabapathy, Lord Lieutenant to her Majesty, the Queen of England
HISTORIANS Prof. K.A.Nilakanta Sastri
Recent news
The 170th year (2006-07) was celebrated in a befitting way with His Excellency The President of India, Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam participating in the concluding function on 23 February, 2007. As a renowned scientist, Dr.Kalam paid an eloquent tribute to the history of the college starting his speech with, "MCC is 170 years old, which means that it has gone around the Sun 170 times."
Notes
- ^ See India Today Magazine dt 4 June, 2007
- ^ India Today June 13, 2009-India's Best Colleges
- ^ See Madras Christian College Magazines and MCC Calendar for 1940
- ^ See The College Calendar for 2007-08
See also
External links
- THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE COLLEGE
- NAAC
- Official Website of MCC School, Harrington Road, Chetpet
- Website of Department of Botany, MCC, Chennai
Other links
- Deepwoods 80s — A Campus Walk Down Memory Lane
- The official website of Martin Hall(Womens Hostel), Madras Christian College
- The Official Website of The Class of 81 MCC
- The Official Website of The Class of 83 MCC
- The Official Website of The Class of 84 MCC
- MCC USA Alumni website
- MCC Europe Alumni website
- MCC Alumni Association of North India and New Delhi
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