Goa Engineering College or Goa College of Engineering (abbreviated and colloquially referred to as GEC) is a public college in Goa, India, offering courses in engineering disciplines and affiliated to Goa University. Founded in 1967 and situated at Farmagudi plateau, Ponda, it is the oldest engineering college in Goa, with over 2,200 students. Academics Academic programmes The college started in 1967 with undergraduate courses in Mechanical, Civil and Electrical Engineering. The Electronics and Telecommunication course was introduced in 1982, Computer Science in 1988, Information Technology in 2001 and Mining in 2011. All courses in the college are affiliated to Goa University. It currently has eight masters programmes, the duration of each being two years: The college is recognized as a research institute under Goa University. The affiliation to Ph.D. programs in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronics, Computer Science & Engineering and Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering are recognized from academic year 2014–15 onwards. The college has a memorandum of understanding with IIT Bombay, and many of its faculty go there to pursue Ph.D. degrees. The Farmagudi campus also houses National Institute of Technology Goa (NITG) and Indian Institute of Technology Goa (IITG). Accreditation and ranking The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has accredited four branches of the college – the Computer, Mechanical, Civil and Electronics and Telecommunications branches. This means the academic curriculum and the teaching-learning process is of a good standard, with adequate infrastructure and faculty, acceptable to the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). A study conducted in 2006 by the magazine Dataquest India ranked the college at 75th in India. In Dataquest's 2011 survey the college was unranked. As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, it was announced that the college would soon house an Incubation Centre for boosting entrepreneurship on campus. Campus The college has one of the largest libraries in the state. It is home to over 86,000 books, journals, and magazines, catering to all the subjects taught in the college. The library has a multimedia section that houses electronic modes of information such as encyclopedias. The library has a book bank facility with which students can obtain books for the entire year and return after the completion of the year, by paying a small fee. With the largest campus in Goa, spread well over 285 acres atop Farmagudi hill, the college has five boys' and two girls' hostels, staff housing, and guest house facilities