History
CEG was established in May of 1794, as a School of Survey with one student in a building near Fort St. George. Founded by Michael Topping, the school became the Civil Engineering School in 1858. Subsequently, CEG was established as a college in 1859 under the Madras University. It was then rechristened as College of Engineering in 1861 with the inclusion of the Mechanical Engineering course.
CEG began its journey as a school of survey established by the East India Company in 1794 at the Fort St.George Madras. There were only 8 students to start with. It was started by the initiation of Michael Topping an Astronomical Surveyor. He was succeeded by John Golding Ham, who was an Architect and Marine Surveyor. The name of the survey school was changed as Civil Engineering School and moved to Kalasa Mahal buildings in Chepauk in the year 1858. The scope was to train upper and lower subordinates. The College was affiliated to the Madras University in 1862.
Civil Engineering was the specialty in those early days. The first set of the students received the DCE degree in 1864. In 1920 the College moved into the sprawling 185 acres campus at Guindy. In 1925, Rao Bahadur G. Nagarathinam Ayyar became the first Indian Principal of the College. This institution became the oldest technical institution in Asia and has several first to its credit. Shifting of the college to Guindy was the impact of conducting the Degree courses in Mechanical Engineering and paved the way for rapid expansion to add some more Degree courses.
The Degree courses thus added into curriculum are:
- Mechanical Engineering – 1894
- Electrical Engineering – 1930
- Telecommunication and High ways – 1945
- Printing Technology 1982
Research Programs were introduced in 1935. Dr. K. L. Rao, former Union Minister for irrigation obtained his first M.Sc. Degree by Research. Miss. Leela George and Miss. A. Lalitha was the first two lady Engineers of Guindy. (1940). In 1942-43, accelerated course was brought into effect with no vacations and 3 batches passed out in two years because of World War II. In 1946 First Ph.D. was obtained by Prof.K.Sukumaran. In 1947 two more colleges were started, one at Ananthapur and another at Vishakhapatnam. But they functioned at Guindy itself for some time for want of infrastructural facilities at the new places.
In 1957 the intake of students was increased from 175 to 275 for the College. Pre professional course was introduced and the entry level was the newly started Pre-University course. This was later changed to 5 year integrated course. I entered the college in 1957 for the pre professional course and later took Electrical Engineering and passed out in 1962. There were only three branches for us, Electrical, Civil and Mechanical. The branches were selected only in the third year and for the first two years we had to undergo common subjects. There were 2 Girl students in our batch and both took civil Engineering. For the first time one of our batch mate entered into Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S) and another into Indian Foreign Service (I.F.S.)
In 1962, due to the Chinese Aggression, many of our batch mates joined the Army Services. Due to rapid industrialization, there were job ample opportunities both in private and Government sectors. We were fortunate to choose the job to our liking. Many of our batch mates went to other countries to seek jobs with higher salaries and perks. All settled well in high positions in life. CEG became the number one college in the State and the Engineering course attracted the best brains of youngsters. CEG was flourishing in Academics, Sports and self-employment. Our Engineers had the Ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability. They were also able to function on multidisciplinary teams. In short they become the back bone of our country’s development.
In 1978 Perarignar Anna University of Technology (PAUT), subsequently the Anna University was established with four constituent colleges, 1.CEG 2.MIT 3.AC College and 4.S.A.P. The Anna University functioned from the Guindy Campus. Mr. P. Sivlingam was the first Vice Chancellor. Dr.Kulandaisamy took over as the second Vice Chancellor and Dr. M.Anandakrishnan was the third Vice Chancellor of the University. New branches of Engineering were introduced in the College. The College offers number of UG and PG courses in different disciplines. The intake was increased every year and it is around 2700 Full time and 550 Part- time UG students as of now and for the PG courses 1740 full time and 453 part time students. In January 2001, all Engineering Colleges in Tamilnadu were affiliated to Anna University.
As one of the oldest engineering institutions in the country, CEG has a rich tradition of research, and is dedicated to furthering the frontiers of technology and engineering. Around 13,000 research scholars, pursuing their Ph.D. and M.S./M.Tech at CEG, are afforded a range of opportunities to explore their fields, under the guidance of over 2500 top researchers, and with access to state of the art infrastructure. Often called upon by the Tamil Nadu and Indian government for research purposes, students will work towards sustainable solutions to real world problems. One of the many achievements brought about by the diligence of CEG’s research body, is the launch of the indigenously built microsatellite, ANUSAT, the first such satellite to be built by an Indian university. Under the aegis of ISRO, students and faculty worked tirelessly to build, launch and operate the satellite. CEG is hence the nexus of technology and some of the brightest minds of the country, truly encouraging to an atmosphere of progressive research. CEG engages the research scholars in extensive research activities that extend beyond classrooms. Various specialized Research Centres, with highly experienced faculty, are located around the campus that provides facilities to undertake research in any chosen sphere. Apart from prioritized academic focus, research centres are integral to the comprehensive knowledge, CEG aims to provide.
The number of Ph.D. awardees of Anna University from the inception (1978-2013) is 4028, while in the last six convocations (2008-2013) the figure touched 2793 and in the convocation held in 2013 alone, it is 690. In the 35th convocation, 1010 Ph.D. scholars are awarded degrees. This is an “All time High” number of Ph.D. awardees (for a calendar year) in convocation for Anna University and the highest number of Ph.D. awardees ever achieved by any other Technical University in India.
College of Engineering Guindy emerged as the top most college in the State and only the top ranking students are able to get admissions in the College. True to its credit, it has secured the 18th ranking for Engineering and 25th for overall as ranked by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The number of private colleges affiliated to Anna University was increased to 500 and the intake of the engineers in 2021 year is about 1.5 LAKHS.
Michael Topping
Michael Topping (1747–1796) was the Chief Marine Surveyor of Fort St. George in Chennai (then Madras) responsible for founding the oldest modern technical school outside Europe. The Survey School was completed on 17 May 1794, with an initial intake of eight students. In 1858 it became the Civil Engineering School and the College of Engineering in 1861. Topping was also the first full-time modern professional surveyor of India having surveyed the seas off the Coromandel Coast, India’s south-east coast. Topping persuaded astronomer William Petrie to gift his equipment to the government and set up the first modern astronomical observatory in Nungambakkam. The school was established in 1792 and Topping was appointed as the British East India Company’s astronomer. Topping died in 1796.