Punjab Engineering College (abbreviated PEC or PEC Chandigarh) is a public research & technical institution in
Chandigarh. It was founded in 1921 in Lahore, established in Chandigarh in 1953, and focuses on the field of applied sciences, particularly engineering and technology. It is known for its two-year and four-year programmes for which the entry is through the
Joint Entrance Examination – Mains and
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering. It offers degrees such as
Bachelor of Technology
A Bachelor of Technology (Latin ''Baccalaureus Technologiae'', commonly abbreviated as B.Tech. or BTech; with honours as B.Tech. (Hons.)) is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after the completion of a three to five-year program of studi ...
,
Master of Technology, and a few others. It also has a comprehensive graduate program offering
doctoral degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
History

PEC was established in 1921 in Mughalpura, a suburb of Lahore, Punjab, erstwhile British India as the Mughalpura Technical College. In 1923, the name was changed to Maclagan Engineering College to honour
Sir Edward Maclagan
Sir Edward Douglas Maclagan (25 August 1864 – 22 October 1952) was an administrator in British India.
He was born in the Punjab, the son of General Maclagan of the Royal Engineers and educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. I ...
, the then Governor of Punjab, who laid the foundation stone of the building. In 1939, the name was again changed to
Punjab College of Engineering and Technology.
In 1932 the institution became affiliated with the University of Punjab for awarding a bachelor's degree in engineering. After
partition in 1947, the college was relocated to
Roorkee
Roorkee (Rūṛkī) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is from Haridwar city, the district headquarter. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The c ...
in India and was renamed East Punjab College of Engineering. In the year 1950, the word East was dropped. Towards the end of December 1953, the college shifted to its present campus in
Chandigarh as an affiliated campus of
Panjab University. In 1966, 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 October 2003, the Government of India recognized the college as a Deemed University and thereafter it became known as Punjab Engineering College (Deemed University). In 2009, the Board of Governors renamed the institution PEC University of Technology.
However, as per a recent notification released by the
University Grants Commission (India), the institution has been ordered to drop the word "University" from its name. The institute has reverted to its former name Punjab Engineering College (Deemed-to-be-University).
In 1994 this institution was adjudged the best technical college in India by the National Foundation of Engineers. It occupies an area of 146 acres. Up to 1962, the college consisted of three departments of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. Thereafter the college expanded and offers Bachelor of Engineering degrees in various specializations.
Highway Engineering was the first post-graduate course offered by the college, commencing in 1957. Presently there are twelve post-graduate courses leading to a Master of Engineering degree. Facilities for post-graduate studies exist for regular as well as for part-time students. The college has facilities for research work leading to the award of the PhD degree in engineering in certain selected fields of different disciplines. The college also offers consultancy services in different disciplines.
Academics
Academic programmes
Institute offers Bachelor of Technology (previously Bachelor of Engineering) in :
*
Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
*
Civil Engineering
*
Computer Science and Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is an academic program at many universities which comprises scientific and engineering aspects of computing. CSE is also a term often used in Europe to translate the name of engineering informatics academic ...
,
*
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
*
Electronics and Communication Engineering
Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current fl ...
*
Mechanical Engineering
*
Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
*
Production & Industrial Engineering
*
Computer Science and Engineering (Data Science)
The institute also offers Master of Technology degrees'' in the following specializations:
*
Computer Science and Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is an academic program at many universities which comprises scientific and engineering aspects of computing. CSE is also a term often used in Europe to translate the name of engineering informatics academic ...
(with specialization in
AI,
Cyber security,
Software Engineering,
Data Engineering
Data engineering refers to the building of systems to enable the collection and usage of data. This data is usually used to enable subsequent analysis and data science; which often involves machine learning. Making the data usable usually involv ...
)
*
Highways, Structures,
Hydraulics and Irrigation,
Rotodynamic Machines
*
Electrical Power Systems
*
Environmental Engineering (Interdisciplinary)
*
Electronics Engineering
Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current f ...
*
Metallurgical Engineering
* TQM, VLSI, Management and Humanities
The institute also awards minor degrees to undergraduates in fields other than their major stream of study.
Collaborations
The college has collaborated with national and international educational institutions for student exchange programs.
MoUs have been signed with corporates to attract projects and internships. Some of these collaborations are:
*PEC has collaborations with a large number of international companies and universities To name a few such as
**
PGIMER, Chandigarh
**
NITIE, Mumbai
** ABB Global Industries & Services Ltd. Bangalore
** Minda Corporation Ltd Noida
** Intel Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, Mumbai
** Central Tool Room, Ludhiana
** CONCAVE Research Centre, Concordia University, Canada
** Central Scientific Instruments Organization, Chandigarh
** Swaraj Division (a unit of FES M&M), Mohali
** MICROSOFT
** Mohali Industries Association, Mohali
** Philips India Ltd.PEC-ESIGELEC France collaboration (Feb, 2009)
**MoA between PEC and
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
Software to develop a centre of excellence at PEC.
**Solar tech Park at PEC campus established in support with Bergen group of Companies
* PEC-ABB collaboration (Jan, 2009)
* PEC-UWA collaboration (Jan, 2009)
* PEC-JCB collaboration initiated (Sep, 2008)
* PEC-Philips collaboration (Sep, 2008)
* PEC-CSIO collaboration (Aug, 2008)
Student life
Cultural and Technical festivals
PECFEST
PECFEST is the annual cultural and technical fest of PEC Chandigarh. The festival started as a cultural event in 2003.
In 2014, PECFEST merged with VYOM (the technical fest of PEC) and consequently, now acts as an umbrella festival for both cultural and technical events and competitions.
VYOM
Vyom (earlier known as Technique before being renamed in 2011) was the university's annual technical festival that ran from 2008 to 2014. It was discontinued in 2015 and the technical events are now conducted as part of PECfest.
Student organizations
Currently, there are 13 technical societies and 12 clubs active in the college, and these are named as:
Technical societies
ACM-CSS- Computer Science Society (Recognized under ACM student chapter)
* ATS - Aerospace Technical Society
* ASCE - American Society of Civil Engineers (Student Chapter)
* ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (Student Chapter)
* ASPS - Astronomy and Space Physics Society
* IEEE - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Student Chapter
* IETE - The Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers Student Forum
* IGS - Indian Geotechnical Society
* IIM - Indian Institute of Metals
* The Robotics Society
* SAE - The Society of Automotive Engineers Student Chapter
* SESI - Solar Energy Society of India
* SME - The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Student Chapter
Students Council
* SAC- Students Affairs Council
Clubs
* Projection & Design Club
* Communications Information and Media Cell
* Music Club
* Robotics Club
* Speakers Association And Study Circle
* Dramatics Club
* Art and Photography Club
* Energy and Envirovision Club
*
Rotaract Club
* English Editorial Board
* Hindi Editorial Board
* Punjabi Editorial Board
* Images
Cell
* Student Counselling Cell (Happy Folks of PEC)
* Entrepreneurship Incubation Cell
* Women Empowerment Cell
Hostels
There are four hostels for boys and two hostels for girls. Each hostel is self-contained with amenities such as a reading room/indoor games/T.V. room, dining hall and mess. Every hostel has a student chairman (Hostel Senior) for managing and controlling various activities.
Girls Hostels:
*Kalpna Chawla Hostel
*Vindhya Hostel
Boys Hostels:
*Aravali Hostel
*Himalaya Hostel
*Kuruksheta Hostel
*Shivalik Hostel
Notable alumni
*
Kalpana Chawla -
Space Shuttle Columbia astronaut; BE Aeronautical (1982).
*
Badshah (Aditya P Singh), Punjabi singer and rapper; BE Civil Engineering (2006)
*
Sandeep Bakhshi, CEO of
ICICI Bank
*
Jaspal Bhatti - satirist, comedian, film-maker; BE Electrical (1978).
*
Vijay K. Dhir
Vijay K. Dhir is the former Dean of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, holding the position from March 2003 to January 2016. He is also a professor of mechanical and aerosp ...
- Dean of the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
*
Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon
Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon (born 1959) is a politician from Punjab, India. He is a four-time Member of Legislative Assembly in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Patti Constituency. He has served thrice as a minister. He has held the port ...
- Punjab
politician
*
Shalabh Kumar
Shalabh "Shalli" Kumar (Hindi: शलभ कुमार; born 24 December 1948) is a Chicago-based Indian Americans, Indian-American industrialist and political donor affiliated with the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Kumar ...
- Indian American industrialist and a philanthropist, BS Electronics Engineering (1969)
*
Vanya Mishra - Model and
Miss India 2012
*
Sunil Saigal
Sunil Saigal ( hi, सुनील सैगल), is an Indian-born American engineer.
Education
Saigal obtained his bachelor's degree (Civil Engineering) at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India in 1978, obtaining a masters in Structure ...
- Dean, Newark College of Engineering at
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), BE Civil (1978).
*
Steve Sanghi
Steve Sanghi is the founder and served as Chief Executive Officer of Microchip Technology Inc. since October 1991. He also holds the Executive Chair of the board of directors of the company.
Since this period Steve Sanghi has been replaced by Ga ...
- CEO of
Microchip Technology BE Electronics (1975)
*
K. K. Aggarwal
K. K. Aggarwal (born 1948) is an engineer and professor who has worked in the fields of computer engineering and information technology. He is the current President of the South Asian University (a university established by SAARC nations) since ...
-Chairman National Board of Accreditation., MHRD and founder vice chancellor of
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
*
Vandana Verma - Space Roboticist at
NASA
*
Tim Guleri - American Venture Capitalist.
*
Anup Chandra Pandey - Election Commissioner of India.
References
External links
Official PEC website* http://alumni.pec.ac.in
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pec University Of Technology
All India Council for Technical Education
Engineering colleges in Chandigarh
Deemed universities in India
Universities in Chandigarh
1921 establishments in India
Educational institutions established in 1921