The Higher Education Review

Kuttikkanam, a famous tourist destination in Kerala, also hosts one of the youngest autonomous colleges - Marian College. Marian College Kuttikkanam (Autonomous) was founded in 1995 and is affiliated to the Mahatma Gandhi University. It is owned by and managed by the Catholic Diocese of Kanjirappally through Peermade Development Society. Marian has a unique and enviable history that it gained autonomy in a span of 20 years. Started with just three undergraduate programs, at present the college offers 18 programs, including two doctoral programs in Social Work and Commerce. Marian was the youngest accredited college in India in 2003 and the college is re-accredited with A grade and CGPA 3.52/4 by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2014. The college twice won the prestigious status of the College with Potential for Excellence (CPE) from University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2009 and 2014.

The institution being autonomous was able to provide its MCA students with various other specialisations like Big Data Analytics, R Programming, Storage and Data Center Management, Python Programming, Mobile Computing, Cloud Computing, Computer Security and so on.

The RedHat training is now part of the core curriculum and the same is expected to empower students for better opportunity in the open source sector.
The MCA Program of Marian College enrols 120 students every year and admission process is purely merit based. The candidates will be listed merit-wise and eligible candidates are called for a personal interview where their communication skills, attitude and technical skills are tested.“We provide scholarships for the needy from the department itself, apart from the college-level scholarships. The program consists of two batches – 2 year Lateral Entry Course and 3 year Regular Course extends over a period of two / three academic years, consisting of four /six semesters and follows industry timings from eight in the morning to eight in the evening. The quality of the program vests in the new industry-oriented syllabus designed when the college became autonomous. Taking inputs from industry experts the syllabus includes latest technologies like data science, mobile technology, cloud computing and so on. Marian College with regular studies has a plethora of co-curricular activities, organized and run by students. It includes festivals and competitions organized by various departments in public speaking, debating, quiz, creative writing, painting, dramatics and theatre and so on which contribute to the wholesome development of the students. Dr. Jacob says, “We engage our students in a variety of programs outside the classroom like walk n talk, outreach, industrial visits, study tours, creative workshops and so on. Students are given opportunities to discover themselves, mine their creative skills, and thus become assured of a bright future.” Apart from the cultural nourishment, Marian focuses on enriching the students’ physical health too. The college has well equipped gymnasiums for both boys and girls. They also have martial arts training for girls in addition to regular aerobics classes.

Dr. Jacob adds, “We impart special training to our students to develop themselves as entrepreneurs, and we already have 12 student start-ups within the first year of instituting the Incubation Center. Alumni help in the placement program of the department by giving referrals to students in their respective companies. One of the key features of Marian is its availability of computer labs and library even after the daily working hours. The college has separate computer labs for UG and PG students. PG students have round the clock lab access with internet connection.

The faculty members of MCA Department are well qualified.They have taken higher degrees like PhD, M.Phil and so on. “Many of our Faculty members have rich Experience from Industry and we conduct FDP like the Misson10X which is a Faculty Development Programconducted by the WIPRO Technologies. For student placements, we have training and assessment of students. We have tie up with TCS, NASSCOM
foundation,” Dr. Jacob adds. Despite being located away from the major industries, the institute has been able to provide 100 percent placements for the past three years and major recruiters are TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Allianz, SixD, Speridian, RM ESI, South Indian Bank and so on. The highest package offered to our students is Rs. 4.5 lakhs per annum and the average is Rs. 2.5 lakhs per annum. “Marian is a hub for campus Placements in Kerala and we lead the Consortium of Placement Officers in Kerala and our Placement Officer is the Chairman of the Consortium. Our students are truly blessed as they receive myriad opportunities in the campus. At Marian, individuals cherish great learning experiences guided through enthusiastic activities and community life,” concludes Dr. Jacob.