Overview

Dept. of Microbiology was established when St. Pius X College, Rajapuram, came to existence in 1995. First academic batch with 24 students, for B. Sc. Microbiology, started in August. The course with Microbiology main, Physiology and Chemistry as subsidiaries was affiliated to University of Calicut. It was the first of its kind in Kerala State. The decision to start such a course at graduate level by our management, Archdsiocese of Kottayam, was much appreciated in the academic circle at that time, since it was an inspiring and model step for others to start such job oriented programs in Arts and Science colleges. It is very much evident from the fact that at least fifteen different colleges affiliated to four different Universities, are now conducting the same course in the state of Kerala.

Dr. KK Anilkumar joined the department on 14 th August 1995, as the first faculty. In the third academic year Dr. Sarala Gopalakrishnan and a Guest Lecturer, joined as faculty members. First batch came out from the department in 1998 with 20 First Class and One Second class out of the 21 students registered for the examination. Since Kannur University was established in 1996 our affiliation was changed to this University from second batch onwards. After the first batch had passed out, strength of the batch (Number of students admitted per batch) was increased to 28. Further, it was increased to 34 from 2001 admission onwards. Course pattern was also changed to LRP (Language Reduced Pattern) from 2003 onwards according to the directions of the University. In this pattern, language is taught only in the first year and theory and practical hours of the main subject Microbiology, was raised accordingly. When the new pattern was introduced, there arouse the need for one more staff.

In the year 2004 one more permanent faculty member Dr. Denoj Sebastian was joined in the department. In the year 2009, Dr. Denoj Sebastian was relieved from the service to take a faculty position in the University of Calicut. In his vacancy Dr. Vinod NV was posted and he joined in service on 9 th October 2012. Mr. Shelvin T Kuriakose joined the Department on 1 st September 2015 as guest faculty. Dr. K K Anilkumar had retired from service on 31 st March 2019. Dr. Sinosh Skariyachan was posted as Assistant Professor and joined the Department on 18 th October 2019.

Twenty two batches of students have passed out from the department till the year 2019. Thirty University Ranks in B.Sc. Microbiology were bagged by our students. On an average, above 85% of the students admitted had been graduated. The drop out of students is below 5% even though most of the students are from educationally and socially backward regions of the society. Around 90 % of the passed out students joined for higher studies, choosing Microbiology or Biotechnology as their Masters programme. A small number had chosen Management studies or other fields for higher studies.

Regarding our Alumni, more than 30 of them have got excellent academic achievements, 30 of them were awarded Ph.D from various institutions including centers of excellence like Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Central Universities of India and from abroad institutions. Many of them are pursuing Ph.D in reputed institutions of CSIR, ICAR and State Government. Around 20 students had been qualified NET and out that 16 of them were awarded with JRF. Some of the former students of this department are serving as Assistant Professors in various colleges and University departments like Punjab Central University, Kannur University, University of Calicut etc. Around ten of them are working as Post doctoral Fellows or Research associates in various foreign institutes with high reputation. Six out of them are working as research associates in various research institutes of India. 125 have got placements in public and private sectors and more than 20 of them work as professional Microbiologists in various Indian and foreign industries. These industries include related fields like Biotechnology, Hospitality, Food and Health, where they serve as quality control officers, hygiene officers, technicians etc.

Microbiology