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PEC completes 100 years; President Ram Nath Kovind to visit college
PEC, Chandigarh, will complete its 100 years on November 9; it was established in Lahore in 1921; President Ram Nath Kovind will visit the campus as a part of centenary celebrations
Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh, will complete its 100 years of existence on Tuesday.
The institute was established in Lahore (now in Pakistan) in 1921 as Mughalpura Technical College. It was founded by Sir Edward Douglas Maclagan. The institute was affiliated to Punjab University in 1932 before it was shifted to Roorkee as the East Punjab College of Engineering in 1947.
On Tuesday, a 10-ft balloon hoisting ceremony will take place to mark the 100 years of its establishment on the campus and Dharam Pal, UT adviser, Rajendra Gupta, chairman of board of governors (BoG), and SS Gill, technical education secretary, will attend the ceremony.
Renamed Punjab Engineering College in 1950, it was later shifted to Chandigarh in 1953. With the formation of the union territory of Chandigarh, the college came under the control of the Government of India through the Chandigarh administration in 1966.
On a campus spreading over 146 acres in Chandigarh, now a deemed university, PEC offers eight undergraduate programmes and 12 postgraduate programmes, besides PhD programmes in various disciplines of engineering, science and other fields.
Future plans
To enhance the academia and research of the institute, PEC has initiated the process of recruiting around 56 faculty members. There are also plans to revamp the infrastructure of the institute. Director Baldev Setia said, “There are plans to build new guest houses and residential facilities for faculty. Also, the renovation of the existing auditorium which holds eminent heritage value is also on cards.”
A central research facility will be established in the 100th year with an earmarked budget of ₹100 crore. Moreover, the institute has started a faculty appraisal programme through an external peer review committee with a target of 100 IPR which includes patents, copyrights and design patents.
Focus on improving rankings
The institute has also initiated a process to improve its rank in the education ministry’s national institutional ranking framework (NIRF). “We have analysed that we need to improve our research to perform better in the NIRF rankings,” he said.
“Now we have introduced that for getting an A+ grade in masters, a student has to publish one research paper in SCI journal. Similarly, a PhD scholar has to publish one research paper in the second to third year,” he added.
Setia said he would propose a policy change in which a PhD thesis would be sent abroad for evaluation, but the proposal needed approval from the PEC senate for implementation.
President Ram Nath Kovind to visit PEC
President Ram Nath Kovind will visit the campus as a part of completing 100 years of PEC. Although no date has been finalised yet for his visit, it is expected to be on November 16. He will inaugurate a centenary gate, centenary hall, semiconductor lab and a hostel block at PEC.
