The One hundred and sixty years old St Joseph’s College, which was founded at Nagapattinam with one student in 1844 by the Fathers of Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) even before the establishment of the University of Madras in 1858, was later shifted to Tiruchirappalli in 1883. The Jesuits are one among the many religious orders of the Catholic Church dedicated exclusively to the cause of Higher Education at a global level. The College is located in the central part of Tamil Nadu, easily accessible by road, rail and air, with the present strength of students numbering about 6000 studying in 12 under-graduate, 19 postgraduate and 12 research departments.

True to its motto, Pro Bono et Vero (for the Good and the True), the Sesquicentenarian St Joseph’s College always upheld and radiated Goodness and Truth in its endeavour to impart qualitative higher education. This educational establishment has been instrumental in churning out thousands of truly educated men; not only physically fit, but intellectually well equipped; not merely cultured and refined but thoroughly schooled and disciplined. Thus this College stands for what is best in education as its ideal, crystallized in its glorious motto ‘Pro Bono et Vero’ - truly upholding the glory and honour it richly deserves, testified by time and history.

St Joseph’s College has produced a number of rare and remarkable geniuses of whom the crown is the present President of India, His Excellency Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. St Joseph’s takes genuine pride to place on record a few of the vast number of luminaries who had received their education in this College. Dr C V Narasimhan, former Under Secretary General, UNO, Dr K Venkatasubramanian, Member, Union Planning Commission, Government of India, Mr N Gopalasamy, Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Justice A R Lakshmanan, Supreme Court Judge, Most Rev. Dr Peter Fernando DD, Archbishop of Madurai, Most Rev. Dr M Casimir SJ, Former Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore also of Madurai, Rev. Dr M Amaladas SJ, Former General Assistant, Rome and Rev. Fr Julian Fernandez SJ, General Assistant, Rome, Mr A X Alexander IPS ADGP, Mr Vijaya Kumar IPS, Commissioner of Police, Chennai are some of the eminent dignitaries from this Alma mater. Freedom fighters, Ministers of the Centre and State, Members of the Legislative Councils, Army officers, Scientists, Journalists, Industrialists, Ambassadors, Advisors to the Government, Vice-Chancellors and Religious dignitaries form the illustrious alumni of this College. Shri Bala Gangathara Thilagar, Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Shri Rajagopalachariar, Smt Indhira Gandhi, Shri K Kamaraj, Shri C N Annadurai, were the popular visitors of the College among other notable persons from India and abroad.

St Joseph’s College is an affiliated First Grade College of Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli. It celebrated its centenary in 1944, sesquicentenary in 1995, attained Autonomous status in 1978 and was accredited with Five Stars by NAAC in 2000. The College has excellent library and laboratory facilities and a well-connected Computer Centre with more than 200 systems. The campus is networked with Intranet facilities with the latest computers. The first department of St Joseph’s recognized to carry out research leading to PhD degree was Chemistry in 1965, followed by Physics in 1971, Botany and Economics in 1976, English and History in 1982, Tamil in 1986, Human Resource Development in 1987, Mathematics in 1988, Computer Science in 1992, Commerce in 1998, and Statistics in 2001. At present, the College is offering full time research programmes leading to MPhil and PhD, both in arts and science subjects and so serving the society at large promoting research and development.