The University of Kerala formerly Travancore University, is an affiliated university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937, long before the birth of the state of Kerala in India, by the enactment of the Maharaja of Travancore, Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma who was also the first Chancellor of the university. C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, then Diwan (Prime Minister) of Travancore, was the first vice-rector.
One of the first 16 universities in India and the first in the state of Kerala, the University of Kerala was founded as the University of Travancore in the former princely state of Travancore (now southern part of Kerala and some neighboring parts of the state of Tamil Nadu) In 1937. During the 7 decades since the University of Kerala grew and shrunk physically and was transformed in many ways.
The earliest origins of the University date back to two modern teaching institutions in Kerala, the University College, Thiruvananthapuram and the Trivandrum Observatory. The College was initially founded as Maharaja's Free School by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal in 1834, with John Roberts. A Christian missionary as a director, and soon grew up in a college in 1866, affiliated with the University of Madras. When Travancore University was founded, the university departments became the University Departments, only to change again when the transformation to the University of Kerala happened in 1957. The College still retains its connection with the University as An affiliated university. The Trivandrum Observatory was founded in 1838 and had an internationally renowned scientist, John Caldecott FRS as its first Director. It became a part of Travancore University, but for some time was administered as an independent government institution. It is now the oldest institution of the University of Kerala.
Travancore University was established in 1937 by an enactment of Travancore Maharaja, Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma who was also the first Chancellor of the University. Sir C. P Ramaswamy Ayyar, the then Diwan (Prime Minister) of the State was the first Deputy Chancellor. He was an eminent scholar and capable administrator. It is said that the Government made an unsuccessful attempt to invite Albert Einstein to be the first vice-rector. The university was modeled after the best universities in the UK, and even today retains some of these characteristics. The University affiliation system however evolved to be different from the university system in British universities.
Only ten schools in the state of Travancore, which at that time were affiliated with the University of Madras, became the affiliated colleges of Travancore University. In 1954, the unified state of Kerala was formed with most of Travancore and the entire Cochin state and Malabar area of the Madras presidency became part of it. The Law of the University of Kerala (Law 14 of 1957) came into force and the University of Travancore was renamed the University of Kerala. The university had three campuses located in three different parts of the state viz. Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode. The number of affiliated colleges grew phenomenally. However, in 1968 the Kozhikode University Center became a full-fledged university, the University of Calicut, which affiliated schools located in the districts of Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur and transforming the Kozhikkode Center into Departments University students. The Cochin University of Science and Technology - CUSAT (1971), Kerala Agricultural University (1971) and Mahatma Gandhi University (1983) were later established, with CUSAT taking the center of the University in Cochin. These events have reduced the jurisdiction of the University of Kerala to the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and some parts of the district of Pathanamthitta.