Thiagarajar College of Engineering

Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) is an Government-aided autonomous institution located in Thiruparankundram, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is affiliated to Anna University, Madurai.

Thiagarajar College of Engineering

Motto	வினையே உயிர்
Motto in English	Duty Is Life
Type	Government Aided Engineering College
Established	1957; 68 years ago (1957)
Principal	M. Palaninatharaja (incharge)
Director	V. Abhaikumar
Location	Madurai , Tamil Nadu , India
Campus	Suburban, 143 acres
Affiliations	Anna University, Chennai
Website	www.tce.edu

History

Thiagarajar College of Engineering is one of several educational institutions founded by the late philanthropist and industrialist Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar. TCE was established in 1957 under the University of Madras. The courses offered in TCE are approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. TCE was granted autonomy in the year 1987.

Location

Thiagarajar College of Engineering

The institution and hostels are located near Thirupparankundram on the outskirts of Madurai, 8 kilometres south-west of the city of Madurai.

The campus is located 10 km from the Madurai Airport, 8 km from the Madurai Railway station and 2 km from Thirupparankundram railway station and is well connected by buses with all parts of state.

Academic programs

TCE offers 9 undergraduate, 9 postgraduate programs and research programs (MS and PhD) in all Engineering and Science streams.^[1]

Rankings

College rankings
General – India
NIRF (Overall) (2022)[2]	151–200
Engineering – India
NIRF (2021)[3]	71
NIRF (2022)[4]	85
NIRF (2023)[5]	101–150
NIRF (2024)[6]	101–150
Architecture – India
NIRF (2021)[7]	19
NIRF (2022)[8]	23
NIRF (2024)[9]	25

Over the past five years, TCE has been ranked as follows in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) engineering category:

Year	Rank (Engineering)	Ref.
2024	101–150	[10]
2023	101–150	[11]
2022	85	[12]
2021	71	[13]
2020	64	[14]

TCE also appears in international rankings. In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025, it is placed in the 1501+ global band overall, and in the Engineering subject table it is in the 1251+ band.^[15]

Notable alumni

• Padma Bhushan A. Sivathanu Pillai, Honorary Distinguished Professor at ISRO^[16]
• Padma Shri Nagarajan Vedachalam, Scientist^[17]
• Padma Shri Vasudevan Gnana Gandhi, Scientist^[18]
• Karthik Subbaraj, Kollywood director^[19]
• Padma Bhushan Nambi Narayanan, Scientist. The Indian film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect was based on his life.^[20][21]