Periyar Centenary Polytechnic College was started in the year 1980 by the "Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology" with a mandate to provide technical education to rural women. The administration of the college is managed by the Governing Council consisting of dignitaries representing different interests. Over the last two decades the college has registered phenomenal growth, both in magnitude and quality and has established itself as a unique and peerless institution devoted to the welfare of the student community. Besides imparting professional knowledge, the college focuses on the entrepreneurial, nurturing creativity, interpersonal communication and leadership to augment traditional learning. The college plays a vital role in generation and dissemination of knowledge, co-operation with and assistance to the industry, contribution to the technological, industrial and in application of science and technology to the society.

 The polytechnic has an excellent infrastructure which includes several buildings on a 20-acre campus, with well-equipped workshop and laboratories, a good reading room and library, a placement section, a seminar hall, computer centre, hostel, a guest house, sports ground and a cafeteria.

Academic autonomy is granted to the "Electronics & Communication Engineering" Department in 1991. The World Bank Assistance sanctioned to the institution has enhanced the facilities and opportunities for strengthening the infrastructure of the polytechnic. The institution is one among the polytechnics selected by Ministry of Human Resource Development to implement the Community Polytechnic Scheme from 1994.