A Maharajah's promulgation, a Diwan as first Vice-Chancellor: the university that began as Travancore's

Background

The University of Kerala describes itself as one of the first 16 Universities in India, founded in 1937 and formerly called the University of Travancore. It came into being by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, who was also the first Chancellor of the University; Sir C. P Ramaswamy Ayyar, the then Diwan of the State, was the first Vice-Chancellor. The University says it was modelled after the best Universities of the United Kingdom and still retains some of those features, though its affiliating system evolved differently from the college system in British Universities. Its earliest origins are traced to two institutions of modern learning in Kerala - the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, and the Trivandrum Observatory. The University College was initially founded as the Maharaja's Free School by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal in 1834 with Mr John Roberts as Headmaster and grew into a college in 1866, affiliated to the Madras University; it remains an affiliated college. The Trivandrum Observatory was founded in 1838 with the scientist John Caldecott FRS as its first Director and is now the oldest institution under the Kerala University. The Kerala University Act (Act 14 of 1957) was brought into force and the University of Travancore was renamed University of Kerala, with campuses at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode. In 1968 the University Centre at Kozhikode became a full-fledged University, the University of Calicut, and CUSAT, Kerala Agricultural University and Mahatma Gandhi University were established later, so that the University of Kerala's jurisdiction is now Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha Districts and some parts of Pathanamthitta District.