The Government College, Attingal was started as a Junior College in August, 1975. The institution was formally inaugurated on 29/8/1975 by Sri. Vakkom Purushothaman, the then Hon. Minister for labour. Prof. H. M. Kassim who was initially appointed Special Officer, became the first Principal of the College. With the opening of this college, a long felt need of this area was fulfilled.
The college started functioning with a student strength of 160 in 2 batches of Pre-degree class of 80 students each. In view of the heavy rush for admission more batches were sanctioned by the University in course of time. The Institution was raised to the status of a first grade College in the academic Year 1978-79 with the starting of B. Com. Degree course. In 1979-1980, Economics was introduced at the Degree level. M.A. Economics was started during the year 1993-94. When the Government decided to de-link the Pre-degree courses from colleges within the time Schedule of 3 years, 1/3 of the total batches of Pre-degree was reduced during the year 1997-98 and 2/3 was reduced during 1998-99. From 1999-2000 there were no admission for Pre-degree courses.
The BA Communicative English course (Three Main System –TRIPOS) had been started with the aid of the UGC during the academic year 1997-98. The Post graduate course M. Com. was started during the year 1998-99. BA History was started during the academic year 1999-2000. B.A. Communicative English Course came to an end in the academic year 2001-2002. BSc Polymer Chemistry was started in the year 1995. The College has been conducting short duration courses through Centre for Adult Continuing Education & Extension (CACEE) of the University of Kerala since July 2004. The courses offered in this scheme include; Certificate Course in Library and Information Science, Certificate Course in Computerized Accounting with Tally and Diploma in Computer Applications. The Economics Department of the College was upgraded as a Research Centre in the academic year 2010-2011. Postgraduate Programme in Polymer Chemistry was started in 2012-13. The Commerce Department upgraded itself as a Research Centre during the academic year 2014-15. In 2018-19, B.Sc. Mathematics and MA English were introduced.
The Community College Scheme of U.G.C has been started with two diploma courses in Automobile Engineering and Hospitality Management respectively. The college now is an approved Skill Development Centre (SDC) of ASAP initiated by the Government of Kerala. The College also offers Professional Diploma in Logistics and Shipping through the Centre for Continuing Education Kerala (CCEK) from 2018 onwards.
The college is re-accredited (Second Cycle) by NAAC with B+ Grade in 2021
