Sadakathullah Appa College

Ever since the British period the twin towns of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai, intersected by the Perennial River Thamirabarani, have been great centres of learning. The Tirunelveli district has a sizeable Muslim population which necessitated the need for an institution of higher education. Due to the dedicated and sincere efforts of the Muslim elite, a College of Arts and Sciences, named after the renowned Arabic scholar Sadakathullah Appa, was started in 1971. The motto of the College is 'My Lord, Vouchsafe Me Wisdom'. The College is located on a 40 acre sprawling campus and is run by Sadakathullah Appa Educational Society. It was first affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University for 20 years. With the birth of the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in 1990, the College was affiliated to it. It became co-educational in 1997. The College with a vision of providing quality higher education to all, especially the Muslim, both men and women, and other deprived, disadvantaged, underprivileged sections of the society, is equally committed to inculcate the students with spiritual and moral values. The College aims at producing holistic personalities by introducing globally relevant subjects and imbibing in them aptitude for learning, internalizing of best practices, Institutional culture and commitment towards community. The College which celebrated its Silver Jubilee in the year 1999 volunteered for assessment by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore and was accredited with B+ in the year 2003. Subsequently the College was reaccredited with 'A' Grade in the year 2009. The Peer Team that visited the College on 26-10-2009 and 27-10-2009 for reaccreditation commended the College for its successful endeavours towards promoting its holistic Academic Excellence. To improve the administrative system in the College, it was decided to go in for ISO certification. Subsequently the College was declared an ISO 9001:2000 certified institution. In the year 2011, ISO 9001:2000 certification was updated to ISO 9001:2008 by the British Standards Institution (BSI). The Academic year 2007-2008 was a memorable one in the eventful history of Sadakathullah Appa College, with the College becoming Autonomous. It elevated the institution to stand high in the academic arena. Having completed the term of Autonomy in 2012, the College went for extending Autonomy through the submission of a detailed Self Study Report covering all the activities of our institution during the period 2008-2012 and the College has been duly conferred with the extension of Autonomous status for five more years from 2012-2013 to 2016-2017. A proposal is prepared for submitting to the UGC to apply for obtaining the status of College with Potentials for Excellence. The Internal Quality Assurance Cell of the College prepared the Self Study Report for third cycle of reaccreditation by the NAAC and submitted the SSR in December 2014. Eventually the College has been accredited by NAAC with 'A' Grade with a CGPA of the 3.40 on its third visit on the campus on 3rd, 4th and 5th of November 2015. The College is proud to possess a diligent and seasoned team of staff who have put it on the springboards of progress and success. There are 53 teaching staff and 18 nonteaching staff in the aided category and 77 teaching staff and 29 nonteaching staff in the unaided category. Currently 2739 students are studying in the College of which girls make up more than 50% of the students' strength. There are 8 UG and 2 PG courses offered in the Aided session and in Un- aided session 11 UG and 6 PG with M.Phil 2 Upcoming 1, Ph.D. 3 upcoming 1 along with 7 Diploma and 13 Certificate courses. Another notable feature is the growing number of Endowments sponsored by liberal donors. The income from the endowments is spent on scholarships, prizes and special lectures. The College has taken every effort to get the students various scholarships. The Islamic Study Circle too gives scholarship from the Zakat Fund every year in the holy month of Ramzan. The Alumni Association of our College has been a source of support to the growth of the College. The Dubai Chapter of our Alumni has come forward to bear the educational expenses of the deserving students. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Study Centre has been functioning at our College since 2007. Our College is also a centre for the conduct of the M.S.University Distance Education Courses. The institution is growing every day. With a view to inculcating in students the importance of values, Moral Instruction Classes for Non-Muslim students and Deeniyat Classes for Muslim students are conducted on all Wednesdays. Students need to be aware of their social commitments and national obligations. For this, there are six National Service Scheme units in our College. The N.S.S Programme Officers of our College have been working as a team with dedication. Our College N.C.C. Unit has a Government sanctioned strength of 104 cadets with 33% reservation for girls. The college has a separate hostel for boys and girls. Boys Hostel area covers 24,475 sq.ft , Ladies Hostel - I 14,000, sq.ft Ladies Hostel - II 14,000, sq.ft 306 girls are accommodated every year in the Ladies Hostel and 205 boys in the Boys Hostel. The Construction Area of the Total Building Sq. Ft is 1 Lakh and 1 thousand sq.ft with new class rooms covering 9000 sq.ft. The College has adopted Shift System from the academic year 2007-08. The introduction of the shift system is helpful to the students to join other Career Oriented Programmes conducted at our College. The classes for the students admitted in the Aided Courses commence at 8.00 A.M. and ends at 1.10 P.M. The Self-Finance Courses and other add-on courses are taught between 1.20 P.M. and 6.15 P.M. The College is now introducing new, learner-centered syllabi for all the courses to implement Choice Based Credit System which is a salient feature of Autonomous Colleges. We hope the institution would blossom soon as SADAKATHULLAH APPA UNIVERSITY.