Ethiraj College for Women, ECW, Chennai

Founded in 1948, the formative years witnessed a strong foundation through introduction of undergraduate courses in Economics, Botany, Chemistry, History, Zoology and English Literature along with the infrastructural facilities, resulting in the construction of the Science Block, Hostel, Open Air Theatre and the Old Library Block. The landmark development of this decade was the auditorium, which to this day remains the pride of the college. The decade of 1968 – 1978 saw the growth of the college with the introduction of Commerce, Mathematics and Physics at the UG level and a number of PG courses and the construction of PG block.

A significant development of the next phase was the introduction of evening college in 1981. The thrust was on Research with introduction of M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes. The addition of the Annexe Campus of 59 grounds augured the new direction in the growth of the College. 1990-2000 saw a steady growth with the introduction of the variety of job oriented self funded UG courses like Corporate Secretaryship, B.Com (Bank Management), BBA (Business Administration), B.Sc. Biochemistry, B.Sc. Microbiology and M.Sc. Plant Biology & Plant Bio-technology and the introduction of post-graduate AICTE approved courses MBA and MCA, which was an important milestone in the growth of the College. The construction of New Science Block and dormitories in the hostel marked the new phase of development.

The beginning of the next decade witnessed the Day College becoming autonomous and the momentous growth of the College in its infrastructure: the N & D block, COE block, New Library, New hostel, Business Studies and Information Technology Block, all adding upto 2,66,000 Sqft. Besides these, the College has a Language Lab, Instrumentation Centre, Online access to the holdings in the Library, Internet Centre and Computer Labs. The College entered the global arena by signing an MOU with British Council for teaching Business English Certificate and First Certificate in English.