# Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru

Mount Carmel College (MCC) is an autonomous college located in Bangalore, India, affiliated to Bengaluru City University. Its ultimate aim is to empower women with the help of education. MCC has been featured on ‘India Today’ since its conception and has continued to claim its ranking as one amongst the top twenty colleges of India every year.

## History

The college was founded on 24 April 1887 by Mother Teresa of St Rose of Lima in Ernakulum in Kerala. It is owned and administered by the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa. As a minority institution, it enjoys the rights and privileges guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
After over six decades, the college which was only for girls, opened its post graduate courses to boys in 2016. The college completed 75 years during the academic year 2024-2025 and following a decision taken at the Bangalore University Academic Council meeting, the college declared on 4 January 2024, that all courses are open for both boys and girls. George Lekha is the principal of the college and Suma Singh is the registrar of academics. The decision is line with the college's aspirations to achieve a deemed to be university status.

## Academics and accreditation

The college offers undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in arts, science and commerce. The college is Re-Accredited with an A+ Grade (4th Cycle) by NAAC. A College with Potential for Excellence by UGC, Star College Status by DBT, Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO) by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India. The college has a sister institution Mount Carmel Institute Of Management which offers a post-graduation diploma in Business Management for women. The Centre for Education Growth and Research has declared MCC as the Best Women’s College in Karnataka for its ‘outstanding and exemplary contribution towards education, skill development and research’.
In 2008, it was ranked by India Today as one of the top three colleges in Karnataka in the fields of arts, science and commerce.

## Student festivals

Cul Ah is the cultural fest of the college that includes events such as dance, drama, music and academically driven contests like quizzes. Cross Currents is a national level Commerce Fest and Carpediem is a national level management fest, along with Manan which is a national level Humanities fest. These are to name a few of the fests hosted by the college.

## Notable alumni

* A. J. S. Lakshmi Shree, visual artist
* Anjali Jay, British-Indian actress and classical dancer
* Amulya, actress
* Anu Prabhakar, actress
* Anushka Sharma, actress
* Anushka Shetty, actress
* Aparna Popat, badminton player
* Deepika Padukone, actress
* Disha Annappa Ravi, environmental activist
* Evangeline Anderson Rajkumar, theologian
* Faye D'Souza, journalist
* Joanne Da Cunha, Pond's Femina Goa 2013 / Actress, Model, Singer
* Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, businesswoman, technocrat, innovator, and the founder of Biocon
* Mamta Mohandas, actress and playback singer
* Margaret Alva, governor of Rajasthan and former governor of Uttarakhand
* Monisha Unni, actress
* Nandita Berry [d], Indian-American attorney, former Secretary of State of Texas
* Nicole Faria - model and Miss Earth 2010
* Nithya Menen, actress
* Nirupama Rao, Indian ambassador to the United States
* Pooja Umashankar, actress
* Priya Pereira, actress
* Radhika Pandit, actress
* Rajini Rao, Indian-American Physiologist and Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, principal investigator of the Rao Lab
* Roshmitha Harimurthy, Miss Diva-Miss Universe India(2016)
* Sharmiela Mandre, actress
* Teresa A Braggs, filmmaker
* Vaishali Desai, model and actress, winner of Indian title of Miss International
* Vasundahara Das, singer, actress
* Suparna Rajaram, distinguished Professor of Psychology at Stony Brook University
* Shubha Chako, feminist, gender and sexual minority rights activist and founder of Solidarity Foundation.