B. S. Abdur Rahman University

History

B. S. Abdur Rahman University was founded in 1984 as Crescent Engineering College, a Muslim minority institution approved by the All India Council of Technical Education and affiliated to Madras University. The college was affiliated to Madras University until the year 2001.From 2002, many engineering colleges in the city of Chennai changed affiliations to Anna University. University of Madras became an umbrella university, exclusively for non-professional, Art & Sciences colleges that offer BSc & BCom degrees. Many colleges chose not to affiliate with any university and became deemed universities in their own right. Crescent Engineering College was affiliated to Anna University until 2008. It was elevated as a university (B. S. Abdur Rahman University) by Section 3 of the UGC act 1956 in December 2008.

Location

The university is located in the Seethakathi Estate, Vandalur, Chennai, on the GST Road (Chennai-Trichy National Highway NH 45), seven kilometers from Tambaram Railway Station, 30 kilometers from Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminus (Koyambedu) and 17 kilometers from the Chennai International Airport. It is situated right next to Anna Zoological Park (Vandalur Zoo) and is spread over acres of greenery along the GST road.

Academic departments

Crescent University is structured around ten schools of study. Research centres are also part of the schools, encouraging interdepartmental collaboration and opportunity for students to participate in exciting research projects. The academic activities of the school are monitored by the respective Deans.

Semesters and timeline

The academic term for 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students begins during June–July. Since admissions to engineering colleges are completed only in July, classes for 1st year students start around August–September.

The engineering course has eight semesters. The odd semesters start from June–July and end in October/November. The even semesters begin in December and end in April/May. Students get from one to three weeks vacation between semesters.

Examinations

For undergraduate/Bachelor level courses - at the end of each semester students typically write Semester Exams (also called University Exams). These are final exams of the courses covered during that semester. Typically each semester has six theory and two laboratory courses. The first year is common for students across all engineering disciplines and, as students progress over the years, they continue to specialize in their disciplines.

Alumni Association

The Alumni Association has initiated several activities; some of them are alumni scholarship scheme, etc.

Crescent alumni abroad

Crescent Engineering College has a culture of students pursuing higher education in foreign countries. After completing their engineering degrees, students go to Arab, Egypt and other Muslim countries for higher education. Students are also employed in firms in America and the Middle East.

Close to 10% of students in Polymer Engineering, ECE, CSE, EEE groups pursue higher education in other countries. Students start preparing for GRE during their third year of engineering and join foreign institutions during August/September of the same year they graduate. Some students prefer to work for one year before pursuing higher studies.

Sport

The college has been crowned champion in the Anna University inter-collegiate sporting events several times. The college has dedicated grounds for cricket, football as well as courts for basketball, volleyball, badminton and ball badminton.

ISTD Students' Club

The Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD) is the official Students' Club of the University. It has been in existence for almost a decade. It is a part of ISTD, Delhi and works under the ISTD, Chennai Chapter.

The ISTD has various clubs where the students can show their talents and nurture their interests. The clubs include the Arts Club, Photography Club, VJ Club, Media Club, Dance Club, Design Club, Dramatics Club, Literary Club and Music Club. The complete details of the clubs can be obtained at the Facebook Page of the club.

The mega event of ISTD is Orion, a two-day annual cultural event held in March. The club comes out with new productions every year which include stage plays, trainings and workshops.

ISTD-C also conducts a grand inter-college Literary Fest every year. The fest is called Literapture. Institutions across India participate in the event.

E-Magazine

B.S Abdur Rahman University features an exclusive Editorial Board that goes by the name Crescent Writers Guild. The main production of the Crescent Writers Guild is Writers Inc. E Magazine every month. The E-Magazine covers highlights of events and achievements in addition to articles, poems, stories, photographs and drawings contributed by the students. The magazine is available as Mobile application as well as Web edition. Writers Inc. can also be read from here.

Student societies and CRESTECH

Each department under the university has its own students' society which organizes events like seminars, workshops, intra-departmental activities and the major event being The National Level Technical Symposiums which is generally during the odd semester and collectively called as CRESTECH.

Infinity

Infinity is the annual math symposium of the college. 18 March was the date for Infinity in 2013.

Crescent Islamic Cultural Society

Burooj Islamic Cultural Society is guided by School of Islamic Studies organizing two function AICE and Darul Hikmah annually.

Rankings

The University is one of the largest engineering institutions in India and is ranked among the top-50 engineering colleges of the country. BSAU was ranked 50 in the Dataquest-IDC T-School Survey for 2008. In the Dataquest-CMR T-Schools Survey 2015 for the top 100 technical schools in India, the university was ranked #7. The university was ranked #54 in the engineering category of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, the first government-backed rankings for higher education in India.

Notable alumni