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In the unprecedented public indignation that arose as a result of the attempted partition of Bengal in 1905 by the then British rulers was the realization that an educational system based on national ideals was essential for the regeneration of a nation. As a consequence the National Council of Education, Bengal (NCE-BENGAL) was founded on 11th March, 1906 by eminent nationalist leaders of the time. The Bengal National College was established on 15th August. 1906, for the teaching of science and the humanities. The Bengal Technical Institute founded by a different body, the Society for the Promotion of Technical Education. on 7th July, 1910, was merged soon afterwards with the National Council of Education. The two colleges were virtually the faculties of "Humanities and Science" and of "Technology" of the National Council of Education. Several national schools also were founded in this period at different places in Bengal. With the passage of time and reduction of patriotic mass emotions, enrolment in the national schools and colleges declined, and by the end of the second decade of the century the schools and colleges were all but dead. The sole exception was the Technical Institute, which thrived and demand for enrolment far outstripped the capacity. By 1920 many batches of graduates from the national institutions were out and established in life. A movement was spearheaded by some of the ex-students to establish an Association of the Alumni of the National Council ot Education. A conference was convened at the initiative of halt a dozen enthusiasts which was attended by some sixty more. The "Jatiya Shiksha Parishad Chhatrasangha (NCE Alumni Association)" was formed on 1st January,1921 with Abinash Ch Bhattacharya as president and Hiralal Roy and Upendra Ch Ghosh as Secretaries. From then on, the history of the Association and its Alma Mater are closely intertwined. With the Calcutta Corporation granting a piece of land at Jadavpur and with liberal donations from benefactors, the National Council and the College moved to its present campus in 1924, and the Association moved with it. The Technical Institute grew and was renamed as the College of Engineering and Technology. The Alumni served the National Council by every means possible. Working for meagre or no compensation donating money, collecting donations, working long hours, they virtually carried the institution on their shoulders during this period. They could also arrange, during this period. to finance the training of a number of faculty members overseas to keep in touch with the latest technological developments. Though deprived of Government recognition or patronage, or perhaps on account of it, the Alumni of the period grew up with a fierce spirit of independence, and established themselves in various industries, creating some of them from scratch.During this period, the National Council was more than once in dire financial straits. The Alumni, individually as well as through concerted action, through the Alumni Association raised funds and offered voluntary services but for which it is doubttul if the Council and its flagship, the Engineering College, would have survived at all. By the end of the thirties, war clouds hovered over the western world, and a little later it was evident that the orient also will not be spared from its ravages. Though the British Government did not formally recognize the National Council, de facto their Alumni were absorbed in large numbers in defence related and other industrial jobs. Furthermore, as the war effort of the government required large numbers of technically trained personnel, the National Council also was encouraged to increase its training capacity and money grants were forthcoming for the purpose. With the attainment of political freedom of the country, the picture changed altogether. Financial worries were gradually reduced, finally culminating in the enactment that brought the Jadavpur University into existence on 24th December 1955. The National Council of Education, in a bold and noble gesture gave away everything it had to the newly founded Jadavpur University and started afresh with its professed objective of pursuing the cause of National education "not in opposition to, but standing apart from" the official establishment. The Association completed 75 years of its existence on 1st January, 1996.
The Civil Engineering department started in the year in 1956.
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