Chennai: Anna University (AU) will soon undergo a process of upgrading in order to attain the status of unitary university, and, in all likelihood it will get a new name. As per the sources, the unitary university would consist of the three colleges - College of Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology and Alagappa College of Technology (ACT).
Dr K Ponmudy, Minister for Higher Education, said that the new technical university would be constituted this year to eliminate the burden of affiliation from the existing AU and allow it to focus on research activities. From the time onwards AU became an affiliating university, over 136 colleges are affiliated to it. It has been under great strain as its teachers are involved into numerous administrative works, such as conducting examinations, releasing results, and inspecting colleges for infrastructure facilities, the minister said. As a result the academic work was being affected. Hence the proposal to convert the AU into a unitary university that it once was.
Moreover, another affiliating university would also be formed on the existing university premises, which would solely do the administrative work of interacting with nearly 160 engineering colleges, including government engineering colleges. Apart from it a formal announcement was made regarding the increase in the number of seats in engineering colleges due to the opening of five new government engineering colleges in the state.
