The regional campuses of Anna University in Tirunelveli, Madurai, and Coimbatore, which only run postgraduate engineering courses, will have undergraduate courses from the coming academic year, according to a statement issued by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday.
According to the statement, the university administration will set up four new BE or BTech programmes, each taking in 60 students. This has created an additional 720 engineering seats (240 on each campus) in Tamil Nadu for the coming year.
Courses such as mechanical engineering, computer science, EEE, and ECE will be started, said a top source from the Higher Education Department. "Tirunelveli alone might have a Geo Tech course instead of one of the other programmes," the source said.
The infrastructure on the existing campuses will be used as classrooms for the new courses. "We have to build labs for Physics and Chemistry in two months," the source said. By the time the students complete their first year, the management will expand the campus to accommodate more students.
Commenting on the availability of faculty, the source said that teachers would be brought in on a contract basis if need be. A senior official of the Anna University said that teachers would have to be hired for language and other courses that post-graduate programmes don't generally, have.
Anna University syndicate members are expected to meet next week and an action plan to ensure conducive learning environment on the three campuses would be discussed at this meeting, the official said.
The CM in his statement said that economically backward students from Madurai, Coimbatore, and Tirunelveli would be able to study at the world-class institute. "People from Tirunelveli, Madurai, and Coimbatore have long requested a high-class undergraduate course nearer their hometowns," he said, adding that the Anna University is ranked as the fourth best in the country.
However, the newly created seats would be available for all aspirants applying through Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA).
