Established in 1972 and situated in a beautiful campus on the outskirts of Kottayam, Government College Kottayam has a prominent place in the academic and cultural arena of Kottayam, Kerala's City of Letters.
From its humble beginnings four decades back with three undergraduate and Pre-Degree courses, the College has evolved into a major higher educational institution in Central Kerala with a Research Centre, five Postgraduate Programmes and ten Undergraduate Programmes.
Government College Kottayam is the only government-owned Arts and Science College in Kottayam district. The college is affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam and is included under sections 2(f) and 12B of the University Grants Commission.
The college was elevated to the status of a research centre in 2000 when Ph D programme was introduced in the department of Economics. Finally, M Com, M A Political Science and B A English - Language and Literature programmes were started in 2013, reaching the tally of ten undergraduate programmes, five postgraduate programmes and one research department.