About St. Joseph's

SJC Emblem

The College emblem is the insignia SJC inscribed in a hexagon as St. Joseph’s College for Women endeavors to enhance the holistic personality of young women by contributing to the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, professional and spiritual development – represented by the six facets of the hexagon.

The lamp signifies the College disseminating the light of knowledge which the students are exhorted to seek and spread out in every part of the globe! The Apex of the flame denotes the light of hope promised by Jesus Christ through the cross. The maxim ‘Kindle the light within‘ exhorts every Josephine to look within herself and optimize her potential for thinking, performing and evolving. It also symbolism a beacon of intelligence, radiating love and knowledge to the society around, and beckons first generation learners from lower socio-economic backgrounds, empowering them to stand tall in a globalized world.

SJC – an Overview

NAAC accredited college with A grade in Third Cycle

St. Joseph’s for Resourcefulness and Excellence

Quality Policy
We at St. Joseph’s College, aim to offer holistic Education in Arts, Science, Commerce and Management for the Empowerment of Women from all sections of society by promoting Academic Excellence, Global Employ ability and Leadership with Social Conscience.

The Significant Journey

A commendable milestone in the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Annecy in India, is the year 1958, when they started St. Joseph’s College exclusively for women, the first of its kind in Visakhapatnam.

In the 50s, Visakhapatnam did not have any facility for higher education of young women. So impressed were the public of Visakhapatnam with the service rendered by the Sisters that, in 1957, a group of prominent citizens requested the Sisters of St. Joseph to undertake the task of setting up an institution of higher learning for the young women of the city.

The college, affiliated to Andhra University, was founded on 2nd July 1958, with six members of teaching staff and 28 students in the Pre-University course. The college was set up to serve the interests of the young women of Visakhapatnam and continues to do so with no thought of commercial gain. The emphasis then was on the teaching of Domestic Science but the college has since then diversified and developed to cater to the changing needs and aspirations of the young women.

The College is now a grant-in-aid institution, with a campus area of 7.5 acres and student strength of 2500, offering Three Intermediate courses, 12 Undergraduate courses in BA, B.Com, B.B.A and B.Sc and Five Postgraduate courses. The UGC, recognising the outstanding quality of education and excellent academic record, conferred Autonomy on the College in 1987.

The college is a member of the All India Association of Christian Higher Education as also the Xavier Board and utilizes the facilities of these agencies for training the faculty. The Department of French has linkages with the educational wing of the French Embassy, New Delhi and Alliance Francaise, Hyderabad. The Department of Home Science has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Community Foods and Nutrition Unit, Ministry of Human Resource Development, for training the Home Science students in the techniques of Fruit and Vegetable Preservation.

Some of the distinctive features of the college are:

  • The college having completed Thirty Five years of Autonomy, has the credit of being one of the first seven colleges in Andhra University area to be granted Autonomy in 1987.
  • The language departments' emphasis on Functional courses to develop the communication skills of the students was the first of its kind in coastal Andhra Performance of the students in Competitive examinations and feed-back from students progressing to higher education reveals that the curriculum developed is optimal in all aspects.
  • The English Department's programme of streaming for General English and planning teaching methodology to suit different entry levels of language proficiency was the first of its kind in Andhra University area and the state.
  • Women's Studies' as a subject of study to develop the self-confidence of women students was introduced by the college for the first time in Andhra Pradesh, which is now offered as Gender Studies.
  • Participation in NCC/NSS/Sports/Yoga/ Martial Arts/Music is a compulsory component of the curriculum.
  • Faculty rejuvenation through participating, presenting and publishing of Research papers in International, National and Regional Academic forums has had the Multiplier Effect of Senior Faculty being invited as Resource Persons for National and Regional academic events.
  • Research has become a priority area since the last five years with major thrust on Research projects with UGC, DST, CRY, World Bank and others, while Faculty Individual Research has stepped up as also Faculty Research publications and Students research projects.
  • Being an institution committed to the cause of the benefit of the society and community around, the College has been involved in diverse areas of Consultancy and Extension from academic expertise to social advocacy, thus soliciting goodwill from the public.