Anna University

Anna University:

Anna University is one of India's premier engineering universities. Established in 1978, it offers higher education in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sciences.

History

Anna University was formed on 4 September 1978 as a unitary type of university. It integrated 4 well-known technical institutions in the city of Chennai (previously known as Madras), the oldest of which was the College of Engineering, Guindy, started in 1794. Perarignar Anna University of Technology (PAUT) was the original name used in 1978. In 1982 the current name of Anna University was coined removing the words "Perarignar" and "Technology". In December 2001, it was converted into an affiliating university, with almost all engineering colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu under its fold and also absorbing all the 6 government engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu as its constituent colleges. It is also ranked tenth (10) by the Outlook India magazine for the year 2007 in the top 50 government engineering colleges in India.

Campus

The University's main campus is situated in the southern part of Chennai and extends over 100 acres (400,000 m²) adjoining the Adyar River and the Raj Bhavan. It contains the College of Engineering, Guindy, the Alagappa College of Technology, and the School of Architecture and Planning. The campus also houses three technical departments of the University of Madras. The Madras Institute Of Technology at Chrompet constitutes the second campus and extends over 200,000 m². The third campus of the University is located at Taramani near the Instronic campus, Adyar.

Constituent colleges

In 1978 the following colleges/schools were taken over by the university as its constituent colleges
College of Engineering, Guindy
Alagappa College of Technology
Madras Institute of Technology
School of Architecture and Planning
In Jan 2001 the following 6 government engineering colleges were also taken over by the university as its constituent colleges
Government College of Technology, Coimbatore
Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology,Karaikudi
Government College of Engineering Salem
Government College of Engineering Tirunelveli
Thanthai Periyar Government Institute of Technology Vellore
Government college of engineering bargur
A recent Bill (2007) for taking over these 6 constituent colleges back again as government colleges is pending approval.

Celebrity alumni of anna university

Akkineni Nagarjuna- popular movie actor (also holds an M.S. from University of Michingan).
Krishnamachari Srikkanth -Former Indian Skipper & Opening Batsman
Former Indian Skipper and a renowned Cricket umpire Venkatraghavan
Writer, Actor 'Crazy' Mohan
Upendra J. Chivukula (an American politician, served in the New Jersey General Assembly)
Y Gee Mahendra, Actor.
Mouli, Producer (telugu), writer and actor
Kutraleeswaran, swam six channels in 1994 and was included in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Raghav, "Aye Nee Romba Azhaga Irukka" fame Tamil Music Director.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Former-president of India. He studied Aeronautical Engg (7th batch) in MIT Chrompet.

Trifurcation of Anna University

Anna University have been split as Anna University Chennai, Anna University Trichy and Anna University Coimbatore from January 2007. While Dr.D.Viswanathan continues as the vice Chancellor but with limited jurisdiction of Engineering colleges around Chennai only,separate Vice chancellors named below have been appointed for each of the 2 Universities .
Dr.R.Radhakrishnan-VC, Anna University Coimbatore Dr.V.Ramachandran-VC Anna University Trichy
In the view to improve the quality of education in southern part of Tamil nadu, the government of Tamil nadu has announced to form one more Anna University at Tirunelveli. Refer item no. 51[1],[ http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/24/stories/2007032409650800.htm

Controversies

A plethora of controversies have repeatedly been arising over the new rules that have been brought into force in the constituent colleges by the Vice Chancellor of the university Mr.D.Vishwanathan. they are,
1. The banning of wearing of jeans and t-shirts by the students inside the campus. (which is widely viewed as normal campus attire world over but is deemed improper and vulgar attire as per the Vice chancellor.)
2. Ban on cellphones thereby preventing students of Engineering and Technology from using technology.
The main reasons that have been given for these rules are that they disrupt students concentration on studies.
The Vice Chancellor has claimed that after this ban the results of the students have improved but this claim is still to be substantiated with proper evidence.

Cancellation of Entrance Exams

In June 2005, the Government of Tamil Nadu decided to discontinue the TNPCEE, an entrance examination for professional courses in all Engineering and Medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, that is held annually by Anna University, and to base admissions into professional courses solely based on the Higher Secondary school examinations. This order was challenged in the court. The court decided to go with the TNPCEE model for admission. So, for the year 2006, the admission process will be very similar to previous year. In fact, this year a larger number of seats will be surrendered to the single window system from the majority of the colleges.