Bishop Heber College

BISHOP HEBER COLLEGE is a religious minority educational institution established by Tiruchirappalli – Thanjavur Diocese of the Church of South India. Its main objective is to cater for the higher educational needs of the members of the Church of So ucational needs of the members of the Church of South India and other Christians and specially to provide for them an educational atmosphere in keeping with the Christian ideals of the Church. The College, however, admits students of all faiths and religions and seeks to provide for them the best possible higher education. Bishop Heber College traces its origin back to Heber Memorial School, which became a full-fledged High School in 1864. In 1873, the School was raised to a Second Grade College and in 1882, it became a First Grade College. It was then known as S.P.G. College. It was the first College to be established in Tiruchirappalli. Honours Courses in History and Mathematics were introduced in 1925. The College came to be known as Bishop Heber College in the late 1920’s and its Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1926 under the Presidentship of the then Governor of Madras, Lord Goschen.The Lindsay Commission on Christian Higher Education in India recommended the merger of the Bishop Heber College with the Madras Christian College, Chennai. Accordingly, Bishop Heber College was closed in 1934 and merged with Madras Christian College, Thambaram. In memory of this, Heber Hall and Heber Chapel emerged at Madras Christian College. The Most Rev. Dr. Solomon Doraisawmy, who was the consecrated Bishop of Tiruchirappalli-Thanjavur Diocese in 1964, succeeded in reviving the College on June 24, 1966. The College functioned at Teppakulam in the Old College Buildings from 1966 to 1969, having only Pre-University classes. In July 1968, the College was upgraded to the Degree Standard with three Degree Programmes viz. History, Economics and Mathematics and the Degree Classes were conducted at Puthur, where the College had acquired a site for its permanent buildings. For four years from 1968 to 1972, the College functioned in two places, the Pre-University Classes at Teppakulam and the Degree Classes at Puthur. In the meantime, the College managed to secure financial aid from the Protestant Central Agency for Co-operation in Development, Bonn, Germany for the construction of its permanent buildings. The building scheme was taken in hand, early in 1970 and four new buildings were opened in 1972. Many more buildings have since then been added and the College now has a beautiful campus with lovely gardens. The College started offering programmes in the Self-Financing stream from the year 1985. The College runs the accredited Study Centre of the IGNOU, New Delhi. The revived College celebrated its Silver Jubilee in February 1992 and Golden Jubilee in 2016. ...view more