St. Joseph's College, popularly known as Devagiri College, is a college in Calicut, Kerala State, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 offering graduation and post-graduation courses in arts and science. Students and alumni of the college are termed ‘Devagirians’. The college is in the Devagiri hills about 8 km east of Calicut (Kozhikode) city.

History

Envisioned by the CMI congregation

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate

The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate is an religious order for men in the Syro-Malabar Church. It is the first Catholic religious congregation founded in India. The first monastery of the order was established on 11 May 1831 at Mannanam, Kerala, India...

 and established in 1956, St. Joseph's College was formally inaugurated by the then-governor of Madras. With great visionaries in its administrative hierarchy and eminent scholars on the teaching staff, Devagiri College set a fast pace of development, adding two prestigious post-graduate departments and a sports pavilion within five years of its inception. With high-ranking students from Kerala converging at this premier institution, the sprawling campus became an enviable place of excellence. First affiliated to the University of Madras

University of Madras

The University of Madras is a public research university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the three oldest universities in India...

 and then to the University of Kerala, the college is now under the University of Calicut

University of Calicut

The University of Calicut is an affiliating university in the southern state of Kerala in India. It is situated in Thenjipalam, in the district of Malappuram with a number of off-campus centres in neighbouring districts. The University conducts courses and examinations for the students of the...

.

Maintaining an ideal ambiance and striking a delicate balance between curricular and co-curricular activities, Devagiri has been able to turn out more than 120 toppers in university examinations, come out the university athletic champions seventeen times, produce artists who have won laurels at national level, and nurture sportsmen and professionals of international reputation.

Academics

Devagiri has emerged as one of the excellent educational institutions under the university today by upholding quality and principles. Claiming a long history of securing firsts in academics and in arts fete, Devagiri bagged whopping 15 ranks in an academic year. With ten post-graduate departments, four research centres, and wings offering M. G. University's off-campus programmes and courses recognized by DOEACC and ICAI, Devagiri College has maintained its reputation for diversification. The college so far bagged 150 first and second ranks since 1962. Nearly 100 students have passed the UGC-CSIR and JRF examinations from the college.

Sports

Devagiri College has been the cradle of innumerable sportsmen in the past half century as an area where sports talent bloomed to national and international recognition.

• K Abdul Rahiman, Volleyball, represented India in international championships
• Jose George, Volleyball, 1978 Asian Championship, 1991 Indian Team Coach
• Jimmy George, Volleyball, 1974, 1978,1986, Asian Games 1977 Arjuna Award Winner
• Pramod Govind, Basketball, 1971, Jr. Indian Team
• M K Manuel, Volleyball, 1979, Asian Championship
• N C Chacko, Volleyball, 1982, Asian Games
• George Kuncheria, Athletics, 1986, Pre-Asian Track and Field Silver Medal in Triple Jump
• Robert Boby George, Athletics, represented India in Triple Jump, National Coach, Dronacharya Award Winner
• Saju George, Athletics, attended Long Jump Training Programme in the USA
• Sreesh T R, Volleyball/BeachVolley, 2003 Gold Medal in World Customs Beach Volley Championship
• Tinu Joseph, Basketball, 2003, Senior Asian Basketball Championship, Qualifying Round
• Kishore Kumar E K, Volleyball, since 1999 member of Indian Junior and Senior Teams. 2002, Junior Indian Team Captain; 2003, Senior Indian Team Captain; 2003, Captain Jr. team for the World Championship
• Sanave Thomas, Badminton, 2002 Thomas Cup England. 2002- Commonwealth Games at Manchester. 2003 World Championship – Bermingham.
• Liju K Abraham, Basketball, 2000- Junior Asian Championship at Kwalalampur.
• Usha Nandini, Handball, 2002- Indian Team Captain in the South Asian Championship at Dhaka. 1995 Best Player in SAF Games, 6 times represented India
• Bobit Mathew, Basketball, 2000- Junior Asian Championship at Kwalalampur.
• Rajeev R, Volleyball, 2003- Senior Indian Team for the Matches held at Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic.
• Muralee Krishna A, Basketball, 2003 Senior Asian Basketball Championship at China
• Vinod S, Volleyball, 2000 Junior Asian Championship. 2003- Senior Indian Team for the matches held at Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic.
• Ratnakaran K, Chess, 2001 Junior Asian Championship at Tehran 3rd Place. Junior World Championship. 2004 won International Master Norm in Commonwealth Championship.
• AmruthaRaj, Weight Lifting, Asian Power Lifting Championship – Silver Medal. World Power Lifting Championship – 9th position
• Sethumadhavan, Football, Meracca Cup

Facilities

Situated on a small hill, Devagiri is blessed with rare scenic beauty. The six-acre campus of sprawling greenery houses a nursery, a higher secondary school, schools for the physically and mentally challenged, men’s and women’s hostels, staff quarters and a chapel. The institution has an eight-lane track stadium, an auditorium and an open-air theatre, a computerized library (one of the biggest in Kerala) of about 50,000 books and journals, 47 computers installed in departments and laboratories, and independent Internet facility at appropriate locations. About half of the 75 permanent teachers are PhDs or rank holders. More than a score of forums and clubs supplement the effort of the teachers.

Recognition

In January 2011, NAAC accredited the college with Grade A (CGPA 3.63) and UGC recognised it as 'College with Potential for Excellence'. Devagiri College is the topmost NAAC-accredited college in Kerala with the highest CGPA. It is for achievements of this sort that the survey conducted by India Today

India Today

India Today is an Indian weekly news magazine published by Living Media India Limited, in publication since 1975 based in Mumbai. India Today is also the name of its sister-publication in Hindi...

zeroed in on Devagiri as one of the best ten colleges in Kerala; SS Music Channel, Chennai singled out Devagiri for a special episode telecast in 2004.

Notable faculty/alumni

• Dr. Sukumar Azhikode
  Sukumar Azhikode
  Sukumar Azhikode is a writer, critic and orator, acknowledged for his contributions to Malayalam and insights on Indian philosophy. He is a bachelor and lives in Eravimangalam near Thrissur....
  
  
• Prof. C.A. Sheppard
• Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri
  Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri
  Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri is a famous poet and figure in Malayalam literature.-Background:Vishnunarayanan was born in Seeravally Illam in Thiruvalla. He acquired a Master's degree in English...
  
  
• Jimmy George
  Jimmy George
  Jimmy George is often considered one of the greatest Indian volleyball players of all time...
  
  
• Sreedharanunni, poet
• Dr Ashramam Sivramasubramanya Iyer, first Keralite to secure a PhD in English from the University of London; well-known Sanskrit scholar
• Sudheesh, actor
• Ranjan Pramod, film director