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College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) is an engineering college in Pune, India. Established in 1854, it is the third oldest engineering college in Asia, and is a premier technical institution outside of the IITs.. It is located in Pune (formerly Poona), Maharashtra. The students and alumni of COEP are colloquially referred to as COEPians.

In 2004, the institute was granted complete autonomy by the state government, and declared a center for excellence in technical education. The institute now is an autonomous engineering school with permanent affiliation to the University of Pune.

The college's study model referred to in the early 1950s as the 'Poona Model' is highly respected by the industry and public works. The institute contends that its autonomy now grants it greater flexibility in dynamically changing its syllabus to suit the changing needs of the industry.

COEP has an enviable location, at the confluence of two rivers, the Mula and the Mutha. The beautiful campus with buildings that are over a century old and the old cafe on the banks of the rivers manage to conceal the tremendous urban sprawl around the college.

History

The College of Engineering, Pune, established in the year 1854, is one of the oldest engineering colleges in Asia. The college was one of the first few colleges established by the British to serve the Indian subcontinent. Initially, it was started as the 'Poona Engineering Class and Mechanical School' to train subordinate officers for carrying out public works like buildings, dams, canals, railways and bridges. Later on, the school became the 'Poona Civil Engineering College', and subsequently in the year 1911, the name was changed to the 'College of Engineering, Poona'. The institution was initially affiliated to the University of Bombay (now Mumbai) for a degree of Licentiate in Civil Engineering known as LCE. The certificate course was converted into a degree course and the first class of the Bachelor of Engineering degree graduated in the year 1912. In 1968, the three year degree was extended to a 4 year (semester based) course.

The Mechanical Engineering Department was established in 1912. Courses for Degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication, Metallurgy, Production, Instrumentation and Control, Computer Engineering and Information Technology were introduced subsequently. The post-graduate degrees have been awarded since 1959.

Degrees

The Department of Civil Engineering of this college is one of the oldest and is highly regarded. Many leaders of the heavy industries in greater Pune (especially the Industrial areas of Pimpri-Chinchwad) are alumni of the Mechanical Engineering Department. The Metallurgy Department is also extremely well known, and is one of the few colleges that still boasts of this specialization. The years when each engineering specialization was introduced are as follows: 1866: Civil; 1914: Mechanical; 1932: Electrical; 1948: Metallurgy; 1956: Electronics & Telecommunication; 1965: Instrumentation & Control; 1992: Computer; 1995: Production; 2001: Information Technology

The Bachelor of Technology (earlier the Bachelor of Engineering or the BE) degree is offered in all the above specializations. The sandwich pattern course, the only one of its kind in India, was introduced in Mechanical, Electrical, Metallurgy (1974) and Production (1995). In this model, students spend their 5th and 8th semesters working in the industry and gain credit for such work, under the supervision of a faculty member and an industrial manager.

The Master of Technology (MTech) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees are also offered in select fields.

Admissions

COEP is among the most selective engineering colleges in India. Admissions to COEP are highly competitive and is based on merit. The cut-off percentages are within the top percentile of high-school graduates. In year 2005-2006,COEP E&TC BTech course admissions closed at an ever high of 187/200 in the common entrance test, with Computer engg following it at 183/200. COEP E&TC was said to be the "most sought after course by students from maharsahtra (Sakal, July 2005)" on the basis of number of students applying for it through CET. For the year 2006-2007, the cut-offs pushed even as high as 191/200 for E&TC and 189/200 for computer. Affirmative action programs exist, including programs for students from north-eastern India and migrants from Kashmir. There are also programs for children of non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Notable alumni

• Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya - was an eminent Indian engineer and statesman. He is a recipient of the Indian republic's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was also knighted by the British for his myriad contributions to the public good. Every year, 15th September is celebrated as the Engineer's Day in India in his memory.
• C. Kumar N. Patel - Vice-chancellor of research at University of California-Los Angeles, inventor of the carbon-dioxide laser, winner of the United States National Medal of Science in 1996.
• Thomas Kailath - Hitachi America professor of engineering at Stanford University, winner of the IEEE Shannon Award in 2000 for profound contributions to the field of information theory. Indutee to the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame (2005)
• Leela Poonawala, former Chairperson of Alfa Laval India and Padmashree awardee.

Activities

COEP is situated in central Pune. Pune is the cultural center of the state of Maharashtra. The citizens of Pune take great pride in the culture of their city, and citizen involvement in governance is high. The city has rapily expanded and modernized in the early part of the 21st century and is now among the trendiest cities in India.

The college houses a popular Boat Club (referred to by Coepians as the BC) which plays host to the annual Regatta. In the annual regatta there is a special entertainment show called Punt Formation popularly called PF Students also practice rowing at the Boat Club and have won many laurels for the college at national contests. The Boat Club Quiz Club (BCQC) that meets every Saturday is one of the premier quizzing bodies in Pune. The Robot Study Circle in COEP is working with an aim of producing prospective winners for the national level robotics competitions like Robocon, Techfest and Shaastra. Currently it has around 200 members and has collection of state-of-the-art facilities in robotics lab. It owns its own Biped, hexped robots, a robosapien, and a few microcontroller eduboards. Orientation lectures are held every Saturday for the same. Students at COEP participate and frequently win the honours at the Purushottam Karandak, an inter-collegiate talent show in Pune, where students present a host of artistic talents from music, acting, dance, painting and such others all during a play. The Department of Electronics and Telecommunication has an Amateur Radio Club with the call-sign VU2COE. The college magazine called Abhiyanta (engineer in Marathi) consistently wins the top honours among college magazines.

The college is also home to the Boat Club Quiz Club. This is Pune's leading quizzing club, and its quizzers regularly dominate the quizzing circuit in and around the city. BCQC quizzers have also achieved many national level awards like MastermindINDIA and other famous quizzes.

The college has close ties with the many manufacturering industries in and around Pune including Bajaj, Telco and Kirloskar Oil Engines, where students participate in academic projects. The presence of the several world-class research laboratories including the Meteorological Survey of India, National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), National Centre for Radio Astronomy (NCRA), Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) and Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) provide reserarch-oriented students access to world-class facilities. In addition the city is home to the recent vibrant software and hardware industry (The Hinjewadi Hi-Tech Park), thus enabling more students to pursue final-year projects in these industries.

The college hosts a few technical festivals, Fervor (Mechanical), Nexus (Electrical), Chrysalis (E&TC)Chrysalis - National Technical paper competition (Electronics and Tele.), Metavista (Metallurgy), Xearch (Civil) and Threshold to name a few.

Sesquicentenary celebrations

In 2004 COEP celebrated the 150 years of its existence. The celebrations were marked by a visit by the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam. A postal stamp to mark the 150th anniversary of the college was released.

Name controversy

In 2000, COEP claimed independence from the state government and was declared an autonomous institute in 2004. Considerable confusion ensued over a proposed name change from COEP to Pune Institute of Engineering and Technology (PIET) which was strongly opposed by alumni and students. The COEP name was later retained in November 2005.

Collaboration with industry and IITs

COEP has been a leader in imparting practical knowledge to its students in the past. The public works department is situated within the college and the Department of Civil Engineering has graduated several engineers that have helped build India's infrastructure. The Mechanical Engineering Department was the first to offer the unique "Sandwich" program allowing students to get credit for 2 semesters in the Industry.

In order for the institute to continue to keep its pole position in educating engineers with practical experience and applied knowledge, the college recently (2006) incorporated new emerging subjects in the syllabi. These courses are being taught by professors from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) via video conferencing and by Industry professionals.

For instance, in the Computer and Information Technology Department, 2 subjects are offered by IBM, and IBM scientists and professionals come to conduct these lectures to help students gain insight into current developments in technology and industry trends.

While this is not a new trend at COEP, it is different from the highly academically oriented programs of the IITs.

Entrepreneurship cell

In collaboration with notable COEP alumni and the industry, the students of COEP have undertaken a new initiative in setting up an entrepreneurship cell, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development. More information about the activities of the cell can be found here

Placements (2006)

COEP trained engineers have been in constant demand since the college's inception. The emerging economy of India has ensured that placement percentages are high.

The year 2006 has been no different, according to the College administrators. They reveal that this year, the first class of B.Tech. graduates from newly-autonomous COEP passed through the Training and Placement process.

Industry giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Symantec, TCS, Cognizant, L&T and D E Shaw India Software, Pvt. Ltd. were some of the companies that actively recruited graduates.

A fairly high percentage of graduates chose to study further. An estimated 10% chose to pursue higher studies in India while 20% chose to study abroad. This does not include the large number of students that chose to study further after gaining some work experience. The USA is a foreign country with the highest percentage of alumni (outside of India).

INDIA TODAY Rankings

COEP was ranked as 15th among the top 20 engineering colleges in the recent survey conducted by India Today (year 2006). In terms of reputation, COEP is ranked 2nd after IIT-Bombay in Western India.

Land allotment controversy

The College is situated in the central part of the city. Since the college was first established, Pune has grown to a metropolis with a large population. The Bombay - Pune Road (formerly NH4) is a major artery and cuts through the college. In December 2005 the Pune Municipal Corporation asked the college for some of its land for road widening. This led to considerable outrage amongst students, and currently the issue is under heated debate. It is noted that the College is protected as a 'heritage complex' by the state government.

External links

• College of Engineering, Pune - official web site
• College of Engineering, Pune Alumni - official alumni web site
• Entrepreneurship Cell CIED - official web site
• COEP Boat Club Quiz Club The BCQC's official website.
• Robot Study Circle, COEP - website for the robotics club in COEP.
• College of Engineering, Pune Networking - Networking Portal for COEP alumni and students
• COEP Charitable Foundation - COEP Alumni association based in silicon valley
• College of Engineering, Pune - unofficial alumni web site
• President of India's Speech at the Sesquicentenary Celebrations - from the honorable President of India's website

• Engineering colleges in Maharashtra
• University of Pune