College of Engineering Trivandrum: Encyclopedia - College of Engineering Trivandrum

College of Engineering, Trivandrum

The College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum) started functioning on 3 July 1939 as a part of the erstwhile University of Travancore, Kerala, India. The college campus is situated near Sreekaryam, 13 km from Thiruvananthapuram Central (railway station). Extending over 125 acres (500,000 m²) of land, it has one of the most spacious campuses in the country. The main building resembles a spanner from the air, around which are spread the departmental buildings, library block, laboratories, workshops, hostels, a planetarium, staff quarters, and stadiums.

Over the years the college has acquired the position of being one of the premier engineering institutions in India. In the year 1990, the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, ranked the college as one of the high ranking institutions in comparison with the performance of IITs in the area of training and placement.

The College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, is one of the few technical institutions in South India, which admits students on a mostly meritorial basis through an All Kerala Engineering Entrance Examination.

College of Engineering Trivandrum - History

Sixty years ago, on the 3 July 1939, when war clouds were looming large over the skies of Europe and the entire world, the College of Engineering, Trivandrum formally came into existence. The institution owes its foundation to the bold and inspired vision of His Highness the Maharaja of Travancore—a dream which has materialized into the mighty edifice of today, the Alma Mater to tens of thousands of engineers who have passed out of her stately portals.

It had its nativity in the congested housing in the former office and bungalow of the Chief Engineer (which is currently the office of the PMG and where the Planetarium and the Science and & Technology Museum are now located). Maj. T. H. Mathewman, a Britisher, was appointed as the first principal of the college with Vastuvidya Kushala Sri. Balakrishna Rao, Retd. Water Works Engineer to Government and Prof. D. L. Deshpande on the faculty. Thus the college took shape with a small batch of 21 students each for the Degree and Diploma courses, under the then Travancore University.

The institution has grown and expanded steadily, so much so that today it is not only the largest engineering college in Kerala, but one of the biggest in the country. All the undergraduate courses are accredited by AICTE and are awarded ‘A’ or 'B' grade.The college boasts of an excellent library,a state of the art central computing facility and a planetaurium. The present principal is Mr Antony Thomas.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "College of Engineering Trivandrum", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki