About College

Polytechnic:

Conception of Technical Institute at Baroda: The concept of having an institute for providing Technical Education was first conceived in August 1886 during a prize distribution ceremony at Baroda College. In order to fulfill the dream of maintaining the pace of Baroda College with the increasing requirements of technical know how in various fields of Engineering & Technology, His Late Highness Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda State established Kalabhavan, a Technical Institute in 1890 at Kalabhavan Baroda. The prime objectives of the institute at that time were to improve the existing industries, and to introduce a few more industries in the State of Baroda, which will be participating in the industrial development of the country.

The Kalabhavan was primarily started as an Arts and Crafts School offering education in various arts and crafts like:

Engineering in three branches - Civil, Mechanical and Electrical
Fine and Industrial Arts - Drawing & Painting (ii) Architecture and (iii) Photography and,
Chemical Technology - (i) Textile chemistry including Dyeing, Bleaching etc. and (ii) Oil and soap making.

Formation of the University and Polytechnic

Both the Kalabhavan and The Baroda College went through various stages of development from 1894 to 1949, leading to the formation of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1949. Then The M.S. University took over the charge of Kalabhavan in 1949, which was basically Arts and Crafts School and developed it first in to The Polytechnic, and then to the Faculty of Technology and Engineering. Primarily Faculty of Technology & Engineering was offering both the Diploma and the higher Degree courses in the above mentioned branches of engineering from 1949 and onwards.

With the advent of various new courses in Engineering and Technology at graduate level and space constraints to conduct both the Diploma and Degree courses in Engineering under one faculty premises, it became mandatory to develop an additional institute, where the basic engineering knowledge can be transferred to the society, which ultimately led to the foundation of the Separate Polytechnic building.

The foundation stone of new Polytechnic Building was laid by His Highness Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India on September 1957. The construction of new building took place almost three years, and in the year of 1960, the teaching of Diploma courses was officially started at the existing polytechnic building as we know it today. Initially only the diploma courses in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering were offered.

Major Developments after Establishment:

The Department of Petrochemical Engineering was started as a part of the Chemical Engineering Department, faculty of Technology & Engineering, in the year 1969-70 under Indo-USSR agreement.

Later on the Extended Diploma courses were started, offering Diploma Education in Civil, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering to the working people of the society, who want to enhance their educational qualifications, along with their course of employment. Apart from this, the Department of Mechanical Engineering also started Post-Diploma Course in Refrigeration and Air-conditioning.

Diploma course in Information Technology was started in the year 2000-01, by the Electrical Engineering Department. Also the Diploma courses in Electronics & Communication and Computer Engineering have been recently launched with a view of very high demand of these trends of engineering in the industry.