The Tamil Nadu Government has said that 535 engineering colleges across the State would be affiliated with the Anna University. This will help students follow a uniform syllabus across the State.
A State Government press release said that the engineering colleges located in Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Chennai, Tiruchi and Madurai will be converted as Anna University’s affiliated colleges.
In future, only Anna University will conduct all the examinations in its 17 regional offices across the State. Zonal offices would be set up in the four locations. This is more of an administrative measure, the release said. Anna University, which is headquartered in Chennai, was established on September 4, 1978 as a unitary type of university. It offers higher education in engineering, technology and allied sciences.
The University was formed by bringing together and integrating two well-known technical institutions in the city - College of Engineering, Guindy and the Madras Institute of Technology , and three Technological Departments of the University of Madras, Alagappa College of Technology and School of Architecture and Planning.
Since December 2001, it became an affiliated university, having brought into its fold about 426 self-financing engineering colleges, six government colleges and three Government-aided engineering colleges located in various parts of Tamil Nadu.
However, the previous Government created Anna University in five different locations. The present government appointed a six-member team headed by the Additional Chief Secretary, Ms Sheela Balakrishnan, to monitor the merger of the five Anna Universities of Technology with the parent Anna University in Chennai. Based on the committee’s recommendation, the State Government decided to merge the institutions, the release said.