When Chowgules was founded, the Goa liberation movement was at its peak. People had come out on the streets to fight against the Portuguese army. During that period there was another freedom movement going on in the other part of Goa. Vishwasrao Chowgule, an industrialist and philanthropist, had been negotiating with the newly formed government to get a plot of land to build a college. Finally, in 1962 Chowgule House got permission to house a college in the military barracks setup near Arlem. Founded in memory of his mother, the college was inaugurated by the then External Minister Smt. Lakshmi Menon on 23 June 1962. In 2008, Chowgules was accredited with A Grade by NAAC and in 2010, won the Goa University Silver Jubilee Year Award for "Best College."
Courses
Chowgule College offers courses in the Bachelor Of Vocation, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts,,, Master of Science, streams and post-graduate diploma in Computer Application. It is the only institution in Goa, India to offer a master's degree in Child Psychology. It is also one of the very few colleges in Goa to offer Geology as a Bachelor of Science course. As the main college for Arts and Science education in South Goa since the early 1960s, it has been home to a number of prominent alumni. Its present principal is Dr. N.N.Sawant. Chowgule College is also Goa's first autonomous college since the academic year 2015-2016.
Facilities
The Chowgule College Library encompasses reading rooms, book stacks and special function areas such as visual room and multimedia resource center. The C-Library has a collection of 57,794 items. It subscribes to 75 latest scientific as well as general journals. The specialist collection includes books, extensive reference materials, AV materials, rare photo collection etc. More than 2700 bound volumes are also available. Chowgule Sports and Fitness Center is in the south of Goa on a sprawling 5-acre property. The center has an indoor capacity of 35,000 sq. ft. which is equipped with sports and recreational fitness facilities featuring: cardio equipment, selector machines, free weights, indoor running track, plyometrics platform, dot drill mats, Jacuzzi, steam bath and changing rooms for men and women. In 2007, the campus inaugurated its exclusive Wi-Fi network, that promoted e-learning as well setting up online courses called Chowgules Learn Anytime Any Place, which helped students get course material online and have discussions in forums.
Student activities
Tathastu is the annual inter-collegiate event organised by Chowgule College and has seen increasing participation over the years. Other annual activities carried out in the academic field include subject-day celebrations when activities like quizzes, debates, poster-making, etc. are held. A few prominent events like Pegasus , Nebula, Revelations, I-RIX , Geographize etc. are well known in Goa and surrounding states. Pegasus is the first undergraduate English literary festival in Goa and has completed 10 years since its inception in 2008. Geographize, which enables students to showcase their geographical skills through various events, was first held in 2012 and has since become a national event. The tiger is the official mascot of the college and the students are regarded as "Chowgule Tigers". In April 2010, a sequence of the film Golmaal 3 was shot on the sports campus. The Founder's day celebration at the college has invited prominent chief guests like Chetan Bhagat, Nandita Das, Milkha Singh, Viren Rasquinha and Terence Lewis .
