DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

OVERVIEW

         The department of English was established in 1875, the same year in which Maharaja’s College was born.  Coeval with the college, which has systematically progressed from a second grade institution affiliated to the University of Madras to a Centre of Excellence, the department has evolved exemplarily along over a period of nearly 150 years.  Initially catering for the needs of various undergraduate programmes and First Arts Course (later renamed ‘Pre-University Course), the department started to offer postgraduate programme in English in 1956, the year in which the linguistically organized state of Kerala sprang into being. Thus the college became one of the first institutions in the entire state to offer the prestigious master’s degree in English. The giant leap took place while the renowned academician Prof. T. C. Balakrishna Menon was heading the department. After sixteen years, in 1972, the department also began undergraduate program while the famous literary critic and editor Prof. T.R.K. Marar was at the helm. In 2007, immediately after the golden jubilee of its postgraduate program, the department was elevated to the status of a research centre offering Ph.D.  As of now, the department consists of 16 teaching faculty most of who are Ph.D.s and/or active researchers who have submitted their thesis or on the verging of doing so. We are the only department which reaches all undergraduate students as English is mandatory at that level. Members of the department have always played key roles in the overall growth and performance of the college by serving in central bodies such as the IQAC and NAAC committees. To crown it all, there are nine supervisors (including retired and external teachers) and more than twenty research scholars now. That the department produced nine Ph.D.s and as many as 35 students cleared National Eligibility Test (seven with Junior Research Fellowship) in the last five years bears testimony to the excellence it has achieved in the realm of higher education and research.