Vidya Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) is a privately financed engineering college in Thrissur District in Kerala. The college offers a degree in Bachelor of Technology and courses in six branches of engineering - Production, Civil, Computer Science, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Communication, Mechanical. The college also offers a degree in Masters in Computer Application (MCA). From the year 2011, the college has offered four MTech courses and two PhD programmes in Electrical engineering & Computer science engineering. The college was established and is administered by Vidya International Charitable Trust (VICT), a body formed by more than a thousand non-resident Keralites mostly based in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. History The college started functioning in August 2003 offering BTech courses in four branches of engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Communication, and Mechanical Engineering. From 2006, the college began to offer BTech programmes in Civil Engineering and Production Engineering. In the same year, the postgraduate programme of Masters in Computer Application was started. There are around 1900 students and 112 faculty members. From 2012, the college has offered MTech in Power electronics and Drives, Computer science and engineering, Structural engineering and Embedded systems. The college is one of the Research Center for Doctoral Research (PhD) of Anna University, Chennai. Certifications The college is affiliated to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) (formerly under University of Calicut), approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and recognized by the Government of Kerala (see External links below). It has also secured ISO 9001:2008 certification. It is also a research center for Doctoral Research for Department of EEE and Dept. of CSE from Anna University, Chennai. College has National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for its EEE, ME and CE undergraduate programmes. Departments and courses The college has seven engineering departments (including the Department of Computer Applications) and three allied departments. The College runs six BTech, four MTech & two PhD programmes in engineering and a MCA programme. Engineering departments Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (60 + 30 PG + 8 PhD) Department of Civil Engineering (120 + 24 PG) Department of Computer Science and Engineering (120 + 30 PG + 8 PhD) Department of Computer Applications (60 PG) Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (120 + 24 PG) Department of Mechanical Engineering (120) Allied departments Department of Applied Sciences Department of Humanities Department of