Loyola College, Chennai is an autonomous Jesuit college of the University of Madras. It consistently ranks among the top five institutions in India for degree programmes in commerce, arts, natural sciences and social sciences.
It admits undergraduates and post-graduates and confers degrees in the commerce, sciences and liberal arts. The college is on a 99-acre (400,000 m2) campus in the heart of Chennai, in Nungambakkam. Its tree-lined pathways, academic buildings, steepled Gothic church which dates back to 1930, and separate fields for each sport, make it a landmark in the southern metropolis.
Video Loyola College, Chennai
History
The name Loyola comes from the ancestral castle where Íñigo López de Loyola was born in 1491, the last of a large Basque family. He along with St. Francis Xavier and companions founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), a worldwide organization of religious men numbering about 19,000. Nearly 4,000 are working in the 18 provinces of India.
In Tamil Nadu there are 480 Jesuits working in schools, colleges, youth services, social work centres, parishes, mission outreach programmes, and in other forms of service and church ministry.
Loyola College was founded in 1925 by, along with other European Jesuits, the French Jesuit priest, Rev Fr Francis Bertram (originally a.k.a. Père François Bertrand; 1870/1871-1936), educated at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics. The Department of Economics was founded by Rev Fr Basenach from the London School of Economics.
Maps Loyola College, Chennai
Academics
The college offers courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The arts/humanities stream includes English, economics, commerce, history, Tamil and sociology. Science courses include physics, chemistry, botany, zoology and computer science. The college follows a credit-based, semester pattern. Undergraduate students must pass all examinations and obtain at least 120 credits in three years to be eligible for a degree. All students must also earn non-academic credits from extra-curricular and social service options. The Department of Outreach facilitates social work in the college. It is a degree requirement that every student irrespective of department complete the outreach program in second year, intended to form more complete human persons. The program takes students to slums and backward areas in and around Chennai to acquaint them with the sufferings of the people and to serve in small ways to better the living conditions. The program awards 3 credits.
Loyola College is the only college in the state capital Chennai with "A+" accreditation from NAAC. India Today magazine in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 ranked Loyola number one in India for science degrees, and in 2007 in both science and humanities. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has recognised Loyola College as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the highest research honour for an Arts and Science College.
The college has been conferred a "College with Potential For Excellence" status by the University Grants Commission. It was given a INR10 million grant (1 Crore) in 2006 by the UGC for continual improvement of facilities. The UGC has further certified it as a "College of Excellence" in the year 2014. The certification, for a period of five years until 2019, comes with a grant of Rs. 2 crore for the college to upgrade its facilities.
Institute for Excellence
Culturals
Loyola College was a pioneer among colleges in South India in hosting cultural fests, and stands out among men's college in Chennai for fostering well-rounded development. Women were first admitted at the turn of the millennium, and they too are encouraged to participate in cultural activities. The College has been commended for its blend of cultures and for requiring all students to have weekly contact with the poor. Its cultural sensitivity also extends worldwide.
The large, Down Sterling inter-college carnival was terminated by college authorities in 1992 when things got out of hand. This historic carnival is memorialized in the friendship song "MUSTHAFA MUSTHAFA" from the movie Kadhal Desam (1996).
To somewhat fill the void the Loyola Student's Union organizes the inter-collegiate cultural event Ovations each September. The college also hosts an annual inter-collegiate dance competition called "Ignite" each February, where its dance team, Loyola Dream Team, excels; also featured are Western/acoustic music bands, and variety and mime teams.
Notable alumni
Politics and administrative service
- Mr. Justice Jasti Chelameswar, sitting judge on the Supreme Court of India
- P. Chidambaram, Member of Parliament, former Finance Minister, Government of India
- H.E. M. O. H. Farook, former chief minister of Pondicherry, former governor of Kerala
- B. S. Gnanadesikan, president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee [TNCC]
- K. M. Joseph, Chief Justice, Uttarakhand High Court
- P. J. Joseph, Member of Legislative Assembly, Minister, Government of Kerala
- Daniel Lisulo, former prime minister of Zambia
- Dayanidhi Maran, Member of Parliament, minister, Government of India
- Dr. M. K. Narayanan, former governor of West Bengal
- Pattabhi Sundar Raman, former advocate-general of Tamil Nadu
- Dr. C. Rangarajan, former governor, Reserve Bank of India
- P. Sathasivam, former chief justice of India, Governor of Kerala
- V. Selvaraj IAS, former chairman of Madras Port Trust
- V. Vaithilingam, former chief minister of Pondicherry
- Dr. Ramaswamy Venkataraman, former president of India
- N. Vittal, IAS, former central vigilance commissioner
- Beno Zephine N L, first 100% visually challenged Indian Foreign Service Officer
Academics and business
- Narayanan Chandrakumar, chemical physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
- Sashi Kumar, founder and promoter of Asianet, leading southern regional Television Channel
- Verghese Kurien, father of the White Revolution, founder of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF)
- N. Mahalingam, former chairman, Sakthi Group and former chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
- Kalanithi Maran, founder of Sun Group
- V. M. Muralidharan, chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
- M. S. Narasimhan, Fellow of Royal society, former director of mathematics at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste
- Felix Raj, former principal and rector of St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and the current vice-chancellor of St. Xavier's University, Kolkata
- Sudhakar Ram, CEO of Mastek Sports
- Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, president of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore)
- Natesan Rangabashyam, gastroenterologist and Padma Bhushan recipient
- Jerry Rao, founder of MphasiS, a leading IT company; businessman and entrepreneur
- C. S. Seshadri, Fellow of Royal society, director-emeritus of Chennai Mathematical Institute
- Ajit Shetty, former chairman of board of directors, Janssen Pharmaceutica
- Ram Shriram, Forbes billionaire, board member of Google and an initial investor in Google
- Rangaswamy Srinivasan, inventor at IBM Research
- Narayanan Vaghul, chairman, ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank
- G. Viswanathan, founder chancellor of VIT University
Sport
- Vijay Amritraj, tennis star
- Vasudevan Baskaran, Indian hockey player and coach
- Jawad Hussain, first class cricket player (father of the former England captain, Nasir Hussain)
- Sharath Kamal, Indian table tennis player
- Ramanathan Krishnan, tennis player
- Ramesh Krishnan, tennis player
- A. G. Kripal Singh, first class cricketer for Tamil Nadu
- A. G. Milkha Singh, cricketer
- Tinu Yohannan, cricketer
Religion
- Duraisamy Simon Cardinal Lourdusamy
- Swami Parthasarathy, philosopher
Journalism
- Sanjay Pinto, Resident Editor, NDTV 24 X 7
- N.Ram, former editor in chief of The Hindu
Theatre and cinema
Chess
- Viswanathan Anand, Grand Master and chess champion
- Ashok Kumar, chess player and captain (2007-10)
Beauty Pageant
- Anukreethy Vas, Femina Miss India World 2018
Gallery
See also
- Loyola-ICAM College of Engineering and Technology (LICET)
References
External links
- Official website
- "Top ten colleges". India Today.
- St Xavier's College, Jaipur
Source of article : Wikipedia
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