It was the generosity, unity and determination of many philanthropists, devout and other organizations from Mannargudi and its nearby places that brought to reality of establishing M.R. Government Arts College, Mannargudi, Thiruvarur District in the year 1971 – 1972 by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The college was commissioned on 07.07.1971 and was formally inaugurated on 13.08.1971. Since then, the College, with a salubrious campus of forty acres, has enormously been catering to the needs of young learners who represent economically weak peasants and underprivileged agricultural families of Mannargudi region and has been fulfilling their higher educational pursuit for more than 50 years.

The college offers twelve undergraduate and ten postgraduate programmes covering Science, Humanities, Commerce and Management disciplines; nine of the twelve departments have been recognized and approved as research centers by the affiliating Bharathidasan University, Trichirappalli, Tamil Nadu as well as by the Government of Tamil Nadu and cater to the higher educational and research hopes of majorly the rural students and research scholars of the region.

Besides the conventional & ICT enabled classroom education of its learners’ under two shifts, departments take-up the colossal task of advanced research through M.Phil. & Ph.D. programmes as well as by implementing funded research projects. Students are imparted with additional orientation on soft skills, skill/ career development, placements training, computer literacy etc. and the college strives to link higher education and upcoming/advanced research with the most deprived learners of the region in consonance with the developments outside. It is a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accredited institution and holds distinguished people in all walks of life as its alumni.