Brief History
Government Arts College, Tiruvannamalai was established in the year 1966 as per G.O.M.S.No.502 Edn., Dated: 06-07-1966 of Tamilnadu. Initially four science courses and two arts courses were started in 1966-97 B.A. History, B.A. English Literature, B.A. Tamil Literature, B.A. Economics were started in the academic year 1969–70, 1972-73 and 1979-80 respectively. Further B.Sc. Botany, Chemistry, Physics, and M.Sc. Physics were started in the academic year 1969-70, 1970-71, 1972-73, 1977-78 and 1982-83 respectively.
NCC was started with an intake of 132 cadets in 1971-72 and students’ Co-Operative society was started in 1976-77. In addition to the various arts and science courses, B.Com (day) and B.Com (evening) course was introduced in 1983-84 and 1984-85 respectively. Part time sequential M.Phil. courses for staff members were started in 1985-86.
The college got ‘B’ Grade by NAAC in 2004. The college also ventured and started self financing PG courses like M.A. History, M.A. Economics and M.Com in the academic year 2004-05 and M.Sc. Mathematics, M.Sc. Botany, BBA (UG) courses were introduced in 2005 – 06, but all these courses were regularized by Government of Tamilnadu in 2006-07. B.Sc. Computer Science course was introduced in 2008-09. Apart from the above courses M.Phil., Mathematics, Physics, Botany, History, Economics and Commerce were also introduced in 2009-10, M.Sc. Computer Science was started in the academic year 2010-11, M.Sc., Chemistry, M.A., English, Tamil were started in the academic year 2011-12, M.Phil., and Ph.D., Chemistry, English were also introduced in 2012-13.
Geographical Background
Government Arts College, Tiruvannamalai is situated on the Pondicherry – Bangalore highway. Located at the foot of the Mount Arunachala, it has a perfect ambiance for academic pursuits. The college caters to the need of economically and academically backward students in and around Tiruvannamalai. Built in rural area the college is serving economically to the backward students downtrodden of the society. It has a team of able and erudite teachers. They have been keeping the beacon of learning ablaze for more than three decades. As an affiliated college of the Thiruvalluvar University, it has to conform to the existing rules of the university. The needs of the students hailing from this region are quite different from that of the norms of the university. Further, the teaching staff members are dedicated to uplift the society by imparting intellectual food for the student community. We believe that autonomy would be offering them freedom to customize the syllabus to suit their needs. For the welfare of the backward students of this area and aiming to provide academic freedom to the staff and students, autonomy is sought for the Government Arts College, Tiruvannamalai.
