The University grew out of a College that was ‘The College of Engineering, Vizagpatnam’ as was named at the time of its establishment in 1946 by the then Government of the composite Madras State is situated in a sprawling campus of 110 acres filled with mango trees in a fast developing Port city of Kakinada on the east coast of peninsula India and situated in a zone which through generations, contributed significantly to the political literacy and cultural heritage of the country. This college became a constituent of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University w.e.f 02-10-1972 through an act of legislature along with other sister institutions under the control of the then Director of Technical Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Earlier, it was affiliated to Andhra University. In the year 2003 the college has become autonomous.

The College is governed by the rules and guidelines provided by the university from time to time. The Principal is the administrative and the academic Head of the College. He is assisted by the Vice-Principal and the College Academic Committee in academic matters and the Deputy Registrar and the office staff in administrative matters. The day-to-day activities of the college are carried out by budgetary allocation from the University fund.

The entire academic activity in the college is overseen by the highest body called College Academic Council, which has at least one academician of repute and an industrialist on its body along with senior Professors of the college. Also the entire administrative activity is overseen by the highest body called College Governing Council (CGC) headed by the Vice Chancellor of the University.

The college has made rapid strides since its formation and is playing a pivotal role in the technological advances of the region.

All the five engineering departments are provided with RCC roof buildings. Additional accommodation for Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical and Electronics Engineering departments is being provided through new buildings as annexes to the existing ones. Plans are afoot to accommodate teaching and non-teaching staff in newly constructed quarters in place of present 50 year old sheds.

The college provides hostel accommodation for nearly about 400 boys and 300 girls. Other amenities on the campus include Bank, Post-Office, dispensary, guesthouse, and play fields.

The Research and Development activity in the College got a boost with the procurement of modern and sophisticated equipment under MHRD and AICTE schemes. Academically, the post-graduate programmes introduced in 1971 in each of the available disciplines have undergone changes in course-structure and syllabi to meet the demands of the current needs. A new under-graduate programme in Computer Science and Engineering has been introduced subsequently. Another post-graduate programme is added in each of the disciplines along with one in Computer Science and Engineering. Now, the college has five U.G. Programmes and Nine P.G. Programmes to its credit. In addition the college helps unemployed under-employed diploma and degree holders in Engineering to improve their qualifications through its continuing education programmes. The college has plans to provide an e-class room on each of Engineering Department.

The college follows a continuous method of evaluation for internal assessment and external mode for end-examinations under semester system.

Most of the faculty on rolls at present are having Ph.D and a few more are in the process of acquiring. The college, itself, has got the credit of producing a few Ph.Ds through various research schemes within the available resources and those obtained from different funding agencies in addition to several M.Tech, M.S and a few M.Phil degrees. A few funded and sponsored research schemes have been in progress. Members of the teaching faculty have authored a good number of research papers, research reports and text-books. Departments in the college have conducted number of summer schools, seminars, workshops, symposia and conferences. In addition, quite a few collaborative research schemes sponsored by CSIR, CRRI, ISRO, BHEL etc have been/are being carried out.

The main library is situated in a separated block housing more than 54,000 volumes and contributed 12 numbers of journals maintained by two qualified librarians and necessary supporting staff for 12hrs a day for 6 days and 9 a.m to 1.00pm on Sunday. It is undergoing changes for automation. In addition, a book-bank with more than 3000 volumes is at the disposal of students for borrowing by BC, SC and ST categories. These books are procured from the funds provided by the Social Welfare Department. Over and above, each of the Engineering Departments have Departmental Libraries to reduce the burden on the Central Library and for the convenience of staff.

Several working/retired public and private sector organizations are benefited by consulting this college for technical advice. The College, also, made in roads into community development works by helping the local administrative authorities like municipalities, state police, endowments department, in designing drainage systems, traffic and pollution surveys, software development (e-cop) etc. The Civil Engineering department has got its additional accommodation with Rs.68.0 lakhs, half of which is from the amounts earned through consultancy. The Civil Engineering earns about 18 lakhs annually. With a few power projects coming up in the Private Sectors in and around Kakinada, a lot of Geotechnical investigation activity has been undertaken by the Civil Engineering Department. Some of important clients include ONGC, Kakinada Port Project, Sri Shakthi Gas Limited besides World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) Aided Projects. The Mechanical Engineering Department offers consultancy works in the testing of pressure gauges, lubricating oils etc., and mineralogical investigations. The Electrical Engineering Department has been offering services in high voltage testing, calibration of meters, measurement of leakage currents in insulated High Voltage (HV) sticks and ladders and design of heavy current contactors.

The college successfully celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1971. The college also celebrated its Golden Jubilee grandly during 1995 - 1996. With the help of funds raised through the contributions from the Alumni, a Golden Jubilee block (Swarnotsav Bhavan) has been constructed on the campus mainly to encourage Research & Development activities. The college has presently entered into the Diamond Jubilee year. The celebrations from July 2005 - July 2006 will be land marked with academic and cultural activities.

The college has a Placement and Training cell and every year a good number of students benefit in securing employment in reputed organizations.

In addition to National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Social Service (NSS) units, there are also technical clubs, a few student wings of professional bodies like the student chapter of IEEE and CSI.

Almost all the laboratories have been modernized and obsolete equipment have been replaced under the Modernization and Removal of Obsolescence (MODROBS) scheme of all the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The college has been admitted to the World Bank Aid through a programme called Technical Education Quality Programme (TEQIP) under which Rs.12 crores aid will be provided.

The University has been accredited by the National Board of Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of University Grants Commission (UGC) with 'A' Grade.

The college has also applied for the accreditation of its various programmes by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) of AICTE.

A student amenities centre is successfully functioning on the campus with facilities like STD booth, Xerox Centre, Internet Centre, fancy and bookstore. In addition the State Bank of India and the Postal Department are running their branches on the campus since long. The college provides medical facilities on the campus through a dispensary with a medical officer deputed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the supporting staff provided by the college. A new P.G Hostel and additional accommodations for the existing ladies hostel will be the new added facilities for students in the campus. The hostels and messes have been renovated in a large scale with all modern facilities.

Each department has got its own computer centre. A central internet facility is available in the Electronics and Communication Engineering department with access to both staff and students. In addition, an internet laboratory is attached to Computer Science & Engineering department, apart from separate internet connections to some other departments.

The College has a placement and training cell and every year a good number of students benefit in-securing employment in reputed organizations.

Further, due to rapid expansion that has gone by in the field of Technical Education in Andhra Pradesh, about 165 Engineering Colleges have been affiliated to the J.N.T. University out of which this college is entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the examinations in 165 Colleges in this Zone in the capacity of a Nodal Centre. Under this activity, the college has to interact with these colleges to see that the end-semester examinations in all these colleges are conducted in a fair manner, the answer scripts are valued in different spot centers and marks lists are sent to the university to facilitate the processing and announcement of Results. This shows the role of the college as a lead institution.

The alumni association of the college has got a number of its units spread all over the country and even abroad. These units are functioning independently and organizing activities for themselves. Some of the prominent alumni contributed monetarily and a multi-utility building has come up on the campus from these funds which is housing the Training & Placement office, an educational T.V. programmes receiving centre (MANA TV) and a few unfurnished guest rooms. One of the alumni has instituted an annual award for best teacher as recognized by the students. Another alumnus instituted another award for the best outgoing student from each branch of engineering. An annual get-together is also arranged on the campus by the local alumni association on the first Sunday of every calendar year.

There is an auditorium with an area of about 500 sq.m. attached with an open air theatre for organizing the functions with a gathering of 500. A 60 seated bus is available and used for educational tours and technical visits.

The University, named as JNTU Kakinada came into existence from 20th August 2008 with Prof Allam Appa Rao as it’s first Vice Chancellor

Central Library

The Central Library began its existence in 1946. Since then, it has grown in size and content along with JNTU College of Engineering, Kakinada to take the present shape. All these years, it has been the life line for the academic activity of the institute. At present, it stands as a model library.

Central Library services the academic needs of about 3000 UG and PG students, research scholars and nearly 100, faculty members, technical and administrative staff of our institute. The Library resources stand at about 54000 volumes including text books and reference books. The journal subscription goes beyond 10.

The library collection also includes a large section of expensive reference books, a large number of text book collection meant to cater for the courses running in the institute and a collection of books ear-marked for BC/SC/ST students.

The central library has been catering to the needs of the under graduates, post graduates students, research scholars, faculty and staff members of the 9 departments. The book collection has been supporting the teaching, research, development and other professional activities of these departments. The demands of the ever-growing research areas in multiple disciplines are being catered with the help of latest volumes, in almost all fields of engineering, Science, Technology and general areas. The library presently occupies a spacious two storied building.

The college library provides special services like current awareness services, selective dissemination of information along with the normal services like reference, referral, literature searching and bibliographic data services.