LITTLE FLOWER COLLEGE,GURUVAYOOR

 A PRELUDE

The clarion call to educate women for the liberation of the country and of the individual was taken up with enthusiasm by all Indians who had a deep - rooted belief in the welfare of mankind. Little Flower College Guruvayoor took shape under this umbrella of goodness for the nation through women education. The scarcity of opportunity for women to physically enter the realm of education promoted the management of the Assisi Province trust to embark initially in the primary, secondary sector of women education and later laid out the foundation for assuring an inclusive education for the women of the locality in 1955. The institution is situated at the south of Malabar, a reserved area of the district of Thrissur in sync with the districts of Malappuram and Palaghat. The institution started off with affiliation to the University of Madras later to the University of Kerala, after the formation of its home state. The institution is now affiliated to the University of Calicut and is one of the foremost women's colleges of nearly four hundred affiliated member colleges.

The strong desire to be succour to women who wish to pursue their aspiration to be educated and financially liberated for empowerment motivated the founding mothers to open this higher education portal through extremely humble beginning marked by sacrifice and toil. The weft and warp of existence was to aid the educational goals of the society especially for women.

The uplift of the women of the locality through education was the goal that pertained to the majority of the women whose families found it daunting to commute long distances to fulfil the educational aspirations of their wards. The multi dimensional disadvantage of women both financially and gender wise found Little Flower College as an ideal destination for satisfying their educational needs in a secure, competitive and healthy eco - system. This tradition has been carried over by the institution with diligence and persistence since 1955 without flagging of perception in the society on the outcomes of each every student who steps out of this higher education portal. Little Flower College has over the years established itself as a premier educational hub for three districts. The institution has around 2000 students offering 17 UG programmes including 2 vocational courses and 9 PG programmes and a community college.

The 18.18 acreage of the campus offers the students ample opportunity to acquire additional skills and experience along with the curriculum that is fixed by the affiliating University. The institution takes care to provide Add on and Certificate courses to augment students’ ability to enrich the fixed framework of the syllabus. The multi media department is one of the first aided course offered under the University of Calicut and the syllabus was designed by the institution to equip students with adequate theoretical and experiential skills. The teaching learning process accommodates both the traditional and digital learning environs for better quality of acquisition of academic knowledge. The 65 clubs and government sponsored programmes like Walk with the Scholar and Student support programmes as well as the Additional skill acquisition programme has created waves of opportunities for the students of all levels to integrate their learning experiences in a mutually beneficial way. The institution has a band of dedicated staff both of academic bodies and ministerial whose unalloyed output has garnered a steady stream of laurels to the institution and its stakeholders. The institution has consistently recognised the importance of being excellent through faculty enrichment and research engagements to ensure the future of the nation reflects in the quality output of our students. The institution has a research centre for the department of Malayalam under the University of Calicut. The institutional faculty has strived to keep abreast of all the relevant latest information through periodic refreshers and online courses to sustain a vibrant community of students especially to accelerate the pace of development in the locality. Women empowerment has been the corner stone crucial for this change over down the road for this institution. The college has 110 full time faculty most of whom have doctorates and the rest pursuing it. The faculty have minor and major projects sponsored by the University grants commission to their credit.

The institution managed by the Assisi Province Thrissur is ideally nestled  at a culturally embedded centre that has flourished through the ages and has set the stage for revolutionary changes in the field of education. The reputed institution has always promoted values both spiritual and humane along with excellence in academics. The consistent support of our stakeholders to repose their trust and wards for efficient and dedicated outcomes even after six decades is truly exhilarating. This cooperation between the institution and parent teacher welfare association is well established. This provides the college immense opportunities for the students to develop their self actualization potential. The dedicated team of faculty and an eco friendly campus ensure a vibrancy of acquisition of curricular academics and Cocurricular, extracurricular outcomes. The institution has consistently recognized the importance of being relevantly visible nationally through effective partnerships and implementation processes that facilitate the integration of innovation and base of the institutions growth.

The institution extends its support to the faculty to garner external inputs and initiatives to improve their quality and effectiveness of their performance through assimilation. The student exposure towards excellence through effective participation in experiential events and the nurturing of their talents through incubation centre offers a diverse range of skills and expertise for lifelong learning. The digitalizing initiatives for teaching learning process a harbinger for nuanced approach for seamless integration of traditional and innovative technologies has been rolled out. The silent revolution of new techie platforms is now adopted in earnest both by the staff and students to increase the efficacy of teaching and learning.

The institution has grasped its potential for being a college with potential for excellence and has vocational courses and community college as well as to be ranked 49^th in the nation by NIRF though by passed for the RUSA allocation.

The commitment of the institution to instill lifelong learning programmes for the women of the locality through professionalization of existing ventures are taken up by the management in earnest for early fruition. The institution has geared up its faculty to absorb research skills to provide expertise in diverse resources promoting activities for the realization of the aspirations of a regional development hub. The institution has linked up central institutions for progression in internationalizing through Study in India programme and seminars and workshops of renowned experts to capitalise the student talent for new experiences through expanding their knowledge horizon.

The institution has embarked on starting new age courses in self mode as governmental sanctions for aided courses were few and far between. The inclusive education offered for women especially for the Divigyajan fulfills the core principles of the institution of socially committed education. Designing new age courses to suit the needs of the locality is a challenge to be tackled vigorously.