Institute of technology

Institute of technology (also: university of technology, polytechnic university, technikon, and technical college) is a designation employed for a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system. It may be an institution of higher education and advanced engineering and scientific research or professional vocational education, specializing in science, engineering, and technology or different sorts of technical subjects. It may also refer to a secondary education school focused in vocational training. The term institute of technology is often abbreviated IT and is not to be confused with information technology.

The English term polytechnic appeared in the early 19th century, from the French École Polytechnique, an engineering school founded in 1794 in Paris. The French term comes from the Greek πολύ (polú or polý) meaning "many" and τεχνικός (tekhnikós) meaning "arts".

While the terms "institute of technology" and "polytechnic" are synonymous, the preference concerning which one is the preferred term varies from country to country.

Technical College (Sri Lanka)

A Technical College in Sri Lanka is a vocational education and training center. Administered by the Department of Technical Education and Training, there are 33 Colleges of Technology and Technical Colleges island wide.

History

The technical colleges in Sri Lanka originated from the Ceylon Technical College which was an institution of higher education for technical and scientific fields in Ceylon and a government department. It was established as the Government Technical College in 1893 at Maradana, Colombo. In 1906, renamed as Ceylon Technical College, it was the center for study of sciences such as chemistry, physics, biology and all technical training and development special in the areas of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. The Maradana Technical College Building has become a landmark of Colombo.

When the Ceylon University College was established in 1921, the science section of the Ceylon Technical College was transferred to form the Department of Science, at the new University college which was affiliated to the University of London. The Technical College began preparing students for the external degrees in Engineering of the University of London since 1933 as well as for associate membership examinations of the professional institutions of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.