Our legacy · Since 1987
Prof. Dr. M. Karunanithi built the colleges and the hospitals. Mrs. Krishnaveni Karunanithi made sure everyone in them was well fed and safe. Between them, a pharmacy college on farmland became twenty-seven institutions for the daughters of rural Tamil Nadu.
How they built it
The work was shared from the start. The Chairman took on the institutions and the hospitals beside them. The Managing Director took on the food and its quality, and the safety of the students in the colleges and the hostels.
Chairman & Founder
Prof. Dr. M. Karunanithi
Leads
He founded the three trusts and leads the institutions: what they teach, who they admit, the campuses they grow on, and the hospitals beside them.
Managing Director
Mrs. Krishnaveni Karunanithi
Leads
She manages the food across the colleges and hostels and its quality, and the safety of the students in the colleges and the hostels.
The legacy
For women’s education first, and then for everyone the institutions touch: patients, staff, workers and the villages around them.
1.5 lakhwomen taught since 1992
Led by the ChairmanColleges built where rural women already live, so a daughter can study without leaving home.
56,000patients a year treated free
Led by the ChairmanSpecialist care brought to the villages, so that no one has to travel to a city for it, or pay for what they cannot afford.
1,000workers given a free meal every day
Led by the Managing DirectorShe runs the food across the colleges and hostels and its quality, and the safety of every student in them, in the classrooms and in the hostels at night.
3,000people employed
The work of bothThe staff, the workers and the villages that grew up around the institutions are looked after as part of the same family.
What it adds up to
Who studies here
8 in 10
come from a village or a small town.
6 in 10
are the first in their family to finish a degree.
1992
Dr. M. Karunanithi was born on 20 November 1952 into a farming family at Elayampalayam, a hamlet near Tiruchengode. He went to the local school, then to Madurai Medical College to study pharmacy, and spent his first five working years as a chemist at a private medical company in Namakkal.
Growing up in a village, he saw how little schooling the women around him were given, and how much of what happened to them followed from that. He decided the answer was to educate them. Raising the money took years. He started a cattle feed manufacturing unit in his hamlet and made it work, and that paid for the first college.
Swamy Vivekanandha College of Pharmacy opened in 1992 under the Angammal Educational Trust, named after the philosopher who had argued for educating women. Colleges in arts and science, engineering, education, pharmacy, nursing, physiotherapy, allied health, dentistry and medicine followed. A school, Vivekanandha Vidhya Bhavan, was added when local families asked for one; it now continues as Vidyaa Vikas Matric Higher Secondary School at Morepalayam.
Swamy Vivekanandha College of Pharmacy was the first, in 1992. There are now 27 institutions and about 3,000 people working in them.
Alongside the trusts he founded two businesses, Allwin Laboratories and MKG Foods and Feeds.
How it grew
1987
Five years before it has a college to run. The money is coming from a cattle feed unit in the founder's own hamlet.
1992
Swamy Vivekanandha College of Pharmacy opens at Elayampalayam, named after the philosopher who argued for educating women.
2001
Vivekanandha College of Engineering for Women admits its first cohort. It is later granted autonomy, as the arts and science college was.
2003
Opened under the District Blind Control Society. Around 50,000 patients a year are treated free, cataract surgery included.
2004
The Rabindranath Tagore Educational Charitable Trust, registered at Sankagiri in 2002, opens its first college there, Vivekanandha Arts and Science College for Women, and the institutions have two campuses.
2007
The first in India reserved for women students.
2011
The health centre becomes a multispecialty hospital with a cath lab and open heart surgery.
2014
The President comes to the campus and speaks about the work being done for rural women's education.
2017
The Indian Society for Technical Education chose Vivekanandha College of Engineering for Women from 10,350 technical institutions.
2021
A thousand-bed teaching hospital opens, the first private medical college in Namakkal district.
1992 to 2021
It started with one pharmacy college and sixty-three students. Tap any year on the line to see which colleges were open then.
27 colleges in 2021
1 opened this year
New in 2021
Already open · 26
His honours
Photographed at the ceremonies, from the Chairman’s honours and the institutions’.
International2007
World Friendship Council, United Arab Emirates
International2008
NRI Welfare Society of India, London
International2008
International Tamil University, USA
National
Presented by three former State Governors
State2015
Bharath Social & Cultural Academy
State
The Vice-Chancellors of Madras, Anna and Dr. M.G.R. Medical Universities
State2023
Among the Chairman's honours
Institution2017
Indian Society for Technical Education, to Vivekanandha College of Engineering for Women
International 3
Vidhya Rathna2007
World Friendship Council, United Arab Emirates
For his work in women's empowerment.
Hind Rattan International Award2008
NRI Welfare Society of India, London
For service to women's education.
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)2008
International Tamil University, USA
Conferred in December.
National 3
Life Time Education Achievement Award2007
Health and Education Development Association, New Delhi
Best Edupreneur2013
The Times Group
Rashtriya Ratan
Maj. Gen. K.V. Krishna Rao, Dr. Bishma Narayan Singh and Dr. V. Rama Rao, former Governors of Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Assam, and Sikkim
State 6
Achiever in Women Education
The Vice-Chancellors of Madras, Anna and Dr. M.G.R. Medical Universities, jointly
Dr. G. Bhujanga Rao, I.A.S. Award2009
Human Resource Research & Development Organization, Dharmapuri
For excellence in women's education. Presented on 8 October 2009.
Kongu Nattu Sathanaiyalar Award2010
Dr. N. Mahalingam, Chairman Emeritus, NIA Educational Institutions, Pollachi
The Kongu region achiever award. Presented on 7 February 2010.
Bharath Excellence Award2015
Bharath Social & Cultural Academy
Academic Service Award2022
Senkundram Tamil Sangam
Pharmacist of the Year2023
Listed among the Chairman's honours on vivekanandha.ac.in
Other recognition for the institutions
Engineering Education Excellence Award
The Institution of Engineers (India)
Swachhta and Swachh Campus ranking
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India
Two autonomous institutions
Arts and Sciences, and Engineering, both for women
NAAC A++ and A+, with 2(f) and 12(B)
National Assessment and Accreditation Council
One of the largest women's institutions in Asia
As stated in the trust's 2026 presentation
Approved by NMC, DCI, PCI, INC, AICTE and NCTE
The national councils for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, technical education and teacher education
Affiliated to four state universities
Periyar University, Anna University, The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University and the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University
ISO certified
Quality management, certified to the International Organization for Standardization's standard
2017 · Indian Society for Technical Education
In the academic year 2017–18, ISTE ran a nationwide analysis of the quality of technical institutions, judging them on infrastructure, the skill and efficiency of their faculty, and the employability and campus placement of their students. Vivekanandha College of Engineering for Women was chosen from 10,350 institutions.
The Chairman and Secretary, Prof. Dr. M. Karunanithi, received the award for the college from the President of ISTE, Prof. Pratapsinh K. Desai.
Also present
About ISTE
The Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) is the leading national, professional, non-profit society for technical education in India. Its motto is the career development of teachers, the personality development of students, and the overall development of the country's technical education system.
Results
Across the colleges: 80+ patents filed, 1,000+ papers in Scopus-indexed journals, 100+ book chapters, and ₹5 crore+ in government research funding.
Students here have won the Smart India Hackathon twice, in 2023 and 2025, and taken the overall championship at the national sports meet in Delhi.
The trusts
The institutions’ motto: “Strong foundation for lifelong learning.”
1987
Tiruchengode · 15 institutions
2002
Sankagiri · 7 institutions
2006
Tiruchengode · 5 institutions
2025–26
From this year’s albums: what opened, and what was held.
A new hostel building opens at Thamaraibarani
New buildings open for the medical college and the College of Nursing
A corporate campus office opens
A free dental clinic opens at the Morepalayam campus
An international education conclave, at the College of Arts and Sciences
An international conference, at the Institute of Information and Management Studies
An academic leadership programme for staff
A state-wide cyber-awareness pledge, at Sankagiri
