Anna University

Anna University (AU) was constituted during the year 1978 as a unitary one. The AU is traced to the southern part of Chennai city in India’s state of Tamil Nadu. Named after Tamil Nadu’s former Chief Minister Late Dr. C.N. Annadurai, the Anna University serves the higher education needs of the state’s residents. At the University, the aspirants can specialize in disciplines such as Applied Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Architecture. In addition to knowledge dissemination and conducting research, the University encourages academia-industry interface to make available a host of opportunities for the students, too.

The University was formed by integrating four reputed Madras-based technical institutions: Alagappa College of Technology (ACT), College of Engineering (CEG), School of Architecture & Planning (SAP) and Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). Presently, the institution houses 13 constituent colleges.

The University has three campuses. The main campus extends to over 180 acres of land and is located around the Adyar River. The second campus is the Madras Institute of Technology at Chrompet that spans over 50 acres of land. The third is built over 5 acres of land and based at Taramani in Chennai. All the University’s 3 campuses are equipped with modern infrastructure to aid the student’s intellectual growth.

During the year 2011, the University became an affiliating university, amalgamating all the Tamil Nadu state’s engineering colleges under one umbrella. Then, in the year 2010, the University again became a unitary one. Later, in the year 2012, for ensuring uniformity in engineering education, all the state’s Engineering colleges were again brought under Anna University, which became an affiliating one once more. In fact, now, there are over 550 colleges that are affiliated to the University.

The University’s objective is to impart quality engineering education, for creating a pool of skilled engineers who are attuned to today’s rapid pace of technology. Moreover, the educational institution strives to serve society members through the use of technology while contributing to the nation’s overall development.

As part of the center’s efforts to become established as a world-class institution and be counted among one of the country’s leading technical education providers, the University focuses on the holistic development of the individuals. Thus, at the center, along with imparting technical knowledge, there is, also, emphasis on sharpening the skills and honing the capabilities of the pupils.

There are around 29 undergraduate and 90 postgraduate programs that are conducted by the University’s various departments. At AU, the aspirants can apply for engineering and technical courses – from undergraduate to doctoral levels. However, bear in mind that the Anna University admission procedure for the varied courses differs, so be sure to carefully read the eligibility norms prior to applying.

Additionally, from the year 2006 onwards, the Anna University’s Centre for Faculty Development hosts the ANNA EDUSAT that includes audio-video lectures and live interactive sessions, using KU-Band that is offered by Bangalore’s ISRO. Furthermore, for both the students and faculty members, the Centre has programs such as the ‘Employability Skills of Students’ and ‘Latest Technologies’ ones, respectively.

For facilitating student-exchange and faculty-exchange partnerships, the University has signed over 40 MOUs with international universities and more than 20 MOUs with national ones, as well.

Keeping in mind the center’s pursuit for achieving academic excellence, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has accredited the University with ‘A’ rank. Also, the University Grants Commission has bestowed the University with the honor of ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ (UPE), based on the University’s engagement in promoting research in the fields of Biomedical Engineering and Applications.

The Anna University library scores 7^th rank for e-resources usage at the national level; at the state level, the University is given 1^st rank, under the same category. Moreover, the University’s library is well-stocked, containing a large number of books, e-journals, periodicals, magazines and various other educational resources (with the inclusion of both the online and offline ones) that are easily accessible by the students upon producing their ID cards.

As per the National Institutional Ranking Framework 2017 of the Ministry of Human Resource Development of New Delhi, the Anna University ranking in India was 6^th rank in the University category, 8^th rank in the Engineering category and 13^th rank in the Overall category.