Gandhigram Rural Institute

• Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI), founded by two dedicated disciples and contemporaries of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr G.Ramachandran and Dr T.S.Soundaram Ramachandran, has as its foundation Mahatma Gandhi’s revolutionary philosophy of Nai Talim, which effectively bridges the cognitive and practical dimensions, and focuses on the holistic development of learners, with an emphasis on skill development through value-based education, rooted in indigenous cultures and traditions.
• Since its establishment in 1956, Gandhigram Rural Institute has been contributing to higher education and has successfully pioneered rural higher education.
• The three-dimensional approach to education namely teaching, research and extension has become a highly celebrated model, earning global and nationwide appreciation.
• Started in a small way the Institute has evolved into a reasonably large and expansive educational complex comprising of 8 schools, 12 departments and 16 Centres offering a whopping 129 academic programs, ranging from certificate courses to graduate programmes to Doctoral and post-Doctoral Programmes.
• Located in Gandhigram, Dindigul district, Gandhigram Rural Institute hosts more than 3500 students, including Ph.D. Scholars, 170+ teaching and 240+ non-teaching staff.

The curricular model developed at GRI organically integrating teaching, research and extension has earned the Institute, the status of Deemed University in 1976.