Government First Grade College, Udupi

About Government First Grade College, Udupi

The Temple Town Udupi, has won public acclaim for private entrepreneurship and leadership. It is recognized for its great strides in the field of education. There have been many institutions of higher learning in and around Udupi. Most of them are run by Private Managements. No doubt, these institutions have done great service to the community. However, it is also true that the students from all the cross sections of society could not have access to these institutions for a few reasons. One of them is the tough competition among the students to make it to the centers of learning. As the reports show, the percentage of passes in plus two or P.U.C. in Udupi district is very high. But a large number of students give up their ambition as they can not afford higher education in a private college or end up joining courses which they really don’t prefer otherwise. Govt. First Grade College, Udupi was founded to meet the aspirations of such students.

The college is the out come of the initiative taken by the local Philanthropists and the people’s representatives. Their concern for the rural youth and their talent in learning led to the establishment of Govt. First Grade College Udupi. The college was started in 1993 on the campus of Govt. P.U. College, Udupi, popularly know as Board High School, one of the oldest educational institutions in Udupi. Until 2006,the college offered only B.A. and B.Com courses. The college was situated near by the bus stand the center of Udupi Town. Nearly 600 students enrolled every year. The classes had to be conducted in shifts to meet the needs of these students. There was ample evidence that this government institution can run as efficiently as a well run private college. The students of our college have done very well in annual university exams all these years.

Certainly the college could boast of high student population and good academic performance, but the premise was congested for running two institutions: P U College and Degree College. Situated at the heart of the city, the noise of the traffic vehicles and the public moving around caused a lot of problems to the administration and the students as well. It was time to look for spacious premises. At the same time the Government started a College for women in 2002 which took care of the immediate educational needs of the girls. Hence this college was moved to the present campus present at Thenkanidiyur nearly 7 k.m. from the Udupi bus stand.

Thenkanidiyur is one of the fast growing suburbs of udupi only 2.5. k.m. from N.H. 17 the college campus at Thenkanidiyur is ideal for any educational institution to thrive. Major I.T. companies like Robo Soft have their head quarters by this place. Modern amenities are available. The surrounding area is largely residential. There is no heavy motoring, noise, and commercial din. Away from the busy city the present campus is most suitable for academic pursuit. With the shift to the present campus there came planned expansion. But the new campus did not have sufficient number of students. The focus was to create awareness about the new college and increase the number of students admitted. The left wing of the college building had been completed. The task was to get the other half of the building constructed. This has been successfully achieved by the people’s representatives and the honorable Govt. of the Karnataka.

With the sufficient infrastructure the college could think of diversification. The traditional courses were not enough to cater to the needs of the students of this area. In fact, lack of modern courses directly affected the vertical progress of the youth of the rural talent pool, the backbone of our college. In 2007-08 the college boldly took the initiative to introduce B.Sc. Computer Science and BBM with computer applications.Further, in the same spirit to nourish the aspirations of the young minds, the college proposed a PG Center in 2007. The Honorable Government of Karnataka accorded the proposal. The University of Mangalore gave it’s affiliation for 3 PG Courses in 2007: MSW, MA in Economics and MA in English.

Regarding the Academic performance, the college has done very well during all these years. The average result (April 2007) in B.A was 91%, in B.Com 61%and in M.S.W, 90% in M.A (Economics)100 % (November 2007). This is an indicator to the hard work of the students, dedication of the teachers and the co-operation of non-teaching staff. The efforts of the staff have contributed to a new professional identity to the college as such.

It is to be noted that the college today has a spacious campus. Adequate funding by the Government, the qualitative support by the university, and the participation of the College Development Council and other local bodies have sustained the growth of Govt. First Grade College, Udupi.
This has encouraged the college to begin new courses from the academic year 2008-2009. So this year onwards B.S.W. and M.A. in Kannada will be introduced.