More than half a century back, His Holiness Paulose Mar Athanasius, the Malankara Metropolitan, had a vision to bring quality higher education to Kothamangalam which was then considered a hinterland of Kerala. In 1950, his dream started taking shape when he constituted a team of educational visionaries with Rev. Fr. Isaac V Maliyil as Convener, Sri. P.J. Varkey as Treasurer, Sri V.P Cheriyan as Secretary and Sri A.P. Varghese as Joint Secretary to build an educational institution at Kothamangalam. Thanks to the efforts of the then MLA Sri. M.P. Varghese and the Revenue Minister Sri E. John Philiphose, a land of 65 acres was acquired for the college. After several meetings and consultations, ‘Mar Athanasius College Association’ was constituted in 1953. An Executive Committee was also formed with His Grace Paulose Mar Philaxinose as its Chairman, Dr. P.T. Thomas as Vice Chairman, Sri. M.P. Varghese (Ex MLA) as Secretary, Sri. P.J. Varkey as Treasurer, and with Fr. Isaac V. Maliyil, Sri. Kottalil, Sri P. Abraham and Sri. N.M. Chacko as members.
Government sanction for starting the college was obtained in 1954 and on 14 July the same year, construction of the college began. After completing the ground floor, the college started functioning with Intermediate classes comprising 127 students and 15 teachers. His Majesty Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, formally inaugurated the college on October 30, 1956. The funds for starting the college initially came from Mar Thoman Cheriya Pally, Kothamangalam, and from the generous contributions of the share holders of the Association. The Emperor of Ethiopia also contributed to funding the Association.
The successful completion of a decade of the existence of the college was celebrated befittingly in 1966, over a period of three days, with public meetings, cultural and entertainment programs.
On 23rd October 1981, the foundation stones for the college auditorium and the college library were laid as Jubilee Memorials by His Beatitude Baselious Paulose II and by Prof. M.P.Varghese respectively.
The college proudly celebrated its Silver Jubilee with public meetings, cultural and entertainments programmes ranging over ten days from 25 December 1981 to 3 January 1982.
The college celebrated its Golden Jubilee from 27 December 2004 to 5 January 2005. The highlights included an All India Exhibition of Science, Technology, Education and Culture, Seminars, Symposia and a variety of cultural programs held in the campus.
A peer team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of the UGC visited the college in June 2002 and accredited the college with ‘A Grade’ with a score of 85-90%. Mar Athanasius College thus made history by becoming the first college in Kerala to be accredited with ‘A’ grade. On its second visit in 2010, the NAAC team re-accredited the college again with ‘A Grade’.
The college has now grown into one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Kerala and entered its Diamond Jubilee Year in 2015. Apart from being conferred with the Autonomous status by UGC on 29, February 2016, the College has been accredited with an A+ grade in the third cycle of reaccreditation by NAAC and thus inching towards achieving the vision of our founder Secretary Late Prof. M P Varghese that of a Deemed University status to our College. It has presently four Ph.D. programs, sixteen postgraduate courses, thirteen undergraduate courses and possesses one of the best infrastructure facilities among all educational institutions in Kerala.
This institution has grown from strength to strength because of the untiring efforts of several stalwarts, particularly those of its founding father Late Prof. M. P. Varghese who set the benchmark as the first Secretary of the College Association.
