File photo of Anna University | (Pic: Express)
File photo of Anna University | (Pic: Express)

Tamil Nadu to establish 11 new centres at Anna University to increase research activities

The state government also plans to establish sports facilities at 10 government engineering colleges at a cost of Rs 80 crore

Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy on Monday, April 11, announced that 11 new centres — including ones for Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Robotics and Internet of Things — will be set up at Anna University with support from TIDCO and SIPCOT, and 10 new Arts colleges will be established in Tamil Nadu. He said this in the Assembly during the debate on grants for his department.

Besides, a research park will be set up at Anna University at a cost of Rs 50 crore and a marine sports and tourism centre will be established at Alagappa University's Thondi campus at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, the minister said. The government also plans to establish sports facilities at 10 government engineering colleges at a cost of Rs 80 crore.

To help government engineering college students pursue higher studies abroad, a centre for foreign languages will be established at 11 government engineering colleges at a cost of Rs 11 crore. Besides, government polytechnic institutes will offer new courses such as apparel design, agriculture engineering and automobile engineering. At the government polytechnic institute in Madurai, a new Protosem course will be introduced at a cost of Rs 2 crore, Ponmudy announced.

To provide training on world skills in electrical installation, industrial controls and drivers, supervisory control, data acquisition, and digital manufacturing, smart manufacturing technology centres will be established at six government polytechnic institutes at a cost of Rs 10 crore. The Tamil Nadu Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Corporation will be expanded at a cost of Rs 5 crore.

New hostels will be established at Alagappa University, Bharathiar University, Anna University's Guindy campus and Marina campus in the University of Madras and Bharathidasan University's Khajamalai campus at a cost of Rs 131.06 crore. Besides, buildings will be constructed at 16 government Arts and Science colleges at a cost of Rs 199.36 crores, the minister said. This apart, infrastructure such as classrooms and labs will be created at 26 government polytechnic institutes and 55 government Arts and Science colleges at a cost of Rs 200 crore. The department has also allocated Rs 100 crore to improve labs and libraries at polytechnic institutes and colleges.

Anticipating that more women will join government colleges due to the government's promise of monetary aid, the department plans to establish 10 new government arts and science colleges in Tiruchy, Viluppuram, Pudukkottai and Erode, among other districts.

To enhance the employability of BE, BTech and MCA students, industry skill-based courses will be introduced at Anna University with the help of IBM with financial support of Rs 6 crore from the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation. A degree course in engineering under the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) model will be introduced and a new admission process will be introduced in Anna University and its colleges to enable polytechnic students to get lateral entry to engineering courses. To enable students in government colleges to pursue PhD research programmes, such courses will be started at 10 government Arts and Science colleges, Ponmudy said.

The higher education minister further said the government has introduced diplomas in Civil Engineering and a diploma in Mechanical Engineering in Tamil medium in Central Polytechnic College, Chennai, and government polytechnic colleges at Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Nagercoil from 2022-23. The minister said the government had announced that 100 textbooks would be translated into Tamil, in coordination with the Tamil Nadu Text Book and Educational Services Corporation (TNTESC) to facilitate students studying with Tamil as the medium of education.

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