COEP Technological University

The College of Engineering Pune (COEP) Technological University is a unitary public university of the Government of Maharashtra, situated in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Established in 1854, it is the 3rd oldest engineering education institute in India, after the College of Engineering, Guindy (1794) and IIT Roorkee (1847). The students and alumni are colloquially referred to as COEPians.

On 23 June 2022, the Government of Maharashtra issued a notification regarding upgrading the college to an independent technological university. On 24 March 2022, both the houses of the state government passed the CoEP Technological University bill, which has conferred a unitary state university status on the institute.

History

The institution was started in July 1854 at Pune, as the "Poona Engineering and Mechanical School", to train public works department (PWD) officials and was housed in Bhawanipeth, Poona in three houses for teaching purpose and a separate house for principal to train subordinate officers in the Public Works Department. In July 1857, Henry Coke was given the charge of the institute. Admission was open to all, irrespective of nationality or caste. Good proficiency in English and basic knowledge of Mathematics were a prerequisite for getting admitted to the institute. The process of admission required that the aspiring candidate apply to the nearest government English school, to whom the entrance examination papers were handed over. The headmaster would take the examination on a date deemed convenient to him and submit the answer sheets to Henry Coke, the in-charge of the mechanical school. After examining the papers, Coke would notify the headmaster of the school with the names of candidates who were deemed fit for admission. Scholarships of ₹ 6 were offered per month after a period of six months of training in the mechanical school for fifteen students. The courses offered included Mathematics, Drawing, Surveying and levelling, building and construction and setting out works on the ground. The course would run for a period of two years.

Later on, in the year 1865, the school was renamed to "Poona Civil Engineering College". The foundation stone of the new college was laid by the Governor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere, who was to become the Vice-Chancellor of the University, on 5 August 1865. In June of the following year, Theodore Cooke M.A., was appointed the Principal. He went on to hold the office for the next 28 years. It started a course in Licensed and civil engineering (LCE) and trained masons and overseers. Later it secured affiliation to the Bombay university. The course was revised in 1886 and the minimum criteria required for admission was raised from Matriculation to the then Previous Examination.

In 1879 two new classes, an Agricultural class and a Forest class, were added to the college, and the name of the college was changed from "The Poona Civil Engineering College " to "The College of Science".

In 1909, the LCE was converted into the BE degree and the first batch of students passed out in 1912. All non-engineering courses were stopped by 1911, transferring the Bachelor of Science degree to the "Science Institute of Bombay" and subsequently in the year 1911, the name was changed to the "Government College of Engineering, Poona".

Campus

The campus of COEP is spread over 36 acres. The campus is divided into four parts North Campus, South Campus, Hostel campus and Playground, due to roadways in between.

The main building is the present day administrative building of the College. It houses the Director, the Dean Academic Affairs, the Dean Student Affairs, the Gymkhana, the Examination cell and other various important administrative heads of the college. The building is almost three floors tall with a base floor length of 18 meters and a width of 9 metres. The building was refurbished in 2012.

Academics

Admissions

The admissions are conducted on the basis of the marks secured in Maharashtra CET and HSC board combined. These admissions are conducted by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) through the Centralized Admission Process (CAP). Several admissions to direct second year of BTech course are also conducted for those candidates who have completed Diploma in Engineering at different polytechnic institutes in the state of Maharashtra. These admissions are conducted through the Centralized Admission Process (CAP) by DTE itself.

The M.tech admissions are on the basis of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) conducted by the seven old IITs and the IISc.

The college also provides Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programmes in various fields. Department of Applied Sciences is a recognised PhD research centre in the subjects of Environmental Sciences and Chemistry.

Rankings

COEP was ranked 12th among government engineering colleges in India by Outlook India in 2022.

The NIRF ranked it 73rd in the engineering ranking in 2023 and 151-200 band overall.

Student life

Regatta

Regetta is an annual regatta hosted by Students of the College of Engineering, Pune. Since its inception in 1928, it has showcased around 165 boats, notably the Eighter, which is one of the oldest boats. The 95th edition of Regatta was held on 26 March 2023. Unlike a Regatta which means a collection of boat races, COEP Boat Club's Regatta is a show of various kinds of boats, kayaks, punts, shell boats and scull boats. The events in this show are Telematches, Kayak Ballet, Shell Games, Punt Formation, Mashaal Dance and the Arrow formation.

MindSpark

MindSpark is the annual technical festival hosted by the college and established in 2007. The idea behind MindSpark originated from the need to unite various departmental level festivals that were scattered across the academic calendar. It features about 50 events across various disciplines of engineering and has been backed by the support of industrial sponsors who also associate with COEP for placement. This event is usually scheduled in an odd semester (around September) and is of 3 days (usually weekend).

ZEST

ZEST is the annual sports festival of COEP Technological University carrying the legacy since its beginning in the year 2002. More than 70 colleges across the country participate in the same. ZEST nurtures the idea "For the students, by the students". ZEST is a 3-day sporting extravaganza in which 20+ sports are played on a large-covered COEP Playground. It is a battlefield where there are no limits to challenges. In addition to this, ZEST hosts flagship events like Cyclothon, Marathon, Self-Defence Workshops, Fitness Sessions, and Sportsdeck Sessions. ZEST is graced with eminent chief guests like Kedar Jadhav, Geeta Phogat, Sandeep Singh, Lalita Babar, Rahi Sarnobat, Sultan Dange, Milkha Singh, Shireen Limaye, Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat, Yogesh Nikam.

Impressions

Impressions is the annual cultural festival of CoEP, which is held every year in the 2nd week of December and lasts for 3 days. Impressions was formed as a platform "For the Artists, By the Artists", to provide opportunities for people from the fields of Dance, Music, Theater, Art, and Fashion to display their talent. The events span over six main modules, namely – Dance, Music, Arts and Crafts, Dramatics, Photography, and Writing.

CSI COEP Student Chapter

The Computer Society of India (CSI) Student Chapter of College of Engineering Pune (COEP), established in October 2018 is the college's largest technical chapter. It organizes a number of technical activities including workshops, competitions, technical symposiums, guest lectures etc. for its student members. Under the guidance of Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology COEP, the student chapter has over 300 members and is run by a Core Team and faculty from the department.

Notable alumni

Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto: One of the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India

Thakkar Bapa, also known as Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar, was an Indian social worker dedicated to the upliftment of tribal and Harijan communities in Gujarat. He played key roles in founding organizations like Bhil Seva Mandal and Harijan Sevak Sangh. Thakkar Bapa's extensive travels and efforts spanned across India, earning him the title "Father of Harijans".

Gaur Gopal Das, an Indian monk, motivational speaker and lifestyle coach.

Sanjay Govind Dhande, Padma Shri, an Indian engineer and educationist. He was the director of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Aravind Joshi, emeritus professor of Computer and Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Kailath, emeritus professor of engineering at Stanford University, winner of the IEEE Shannon Award and US National Medal of Science

Vijay Kelkar, Padma Vibhushan, Advisor to the Finance Minister, Government of India in the rank of a Minister of State, Chairman, National Stock Exchange of India

Sumant Moolgaokar, Padma Bhushan, he was an Indian industrialist, known as architect of Tata Motors. He was the chief executive of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). He also remained Vice-Chairman of Tata Steel and served as non-executive chairman of Maruti Suzuki.

Milind Mulick, Indian watercolour painter, teacher, and author

Laxman Narasimhan, an Indian-American business executive, former CEO of Starbucks Corporation, and has previously served as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, and Chief Commercial Officer at PepsiCo.

Vinayak Pai, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tata Projects

Nitin Paranjpe, President of the Foods & Refreshment Division of Unilever

Suhas V Patankar, pioneer in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and Finite volume method. Notable as the co-developer of the SIMPLE algorithm in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). He is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota.

C. Kumar N. Patel, Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, inventor of the carbon-dioxide laser, winner of the United States National Medal of Science

Lila Poonawalla, Padma Shri, an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and humanitarian. First Woman Engineer graduating from the Mechanical stream.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)