Hunt on for name for Anna Univ’s new entity

The State government had recently constituted a committee comprising Ministers and three IAS officers to look into the possibility of bifurcating the university. Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan, School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan, Electricity Minister P Thangamani, Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar and Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam.

At the high-level meeting held at the State Secretariat, the committee members discussed in length about the pros and cons of bifurcating the university, and also to decide on a suitable name.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next that the committee members discussed the immediate measures to be taken to get the Institution of Eminence (IOE) status from the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD).

“It was decided to write to the Ministry seeking to approve IOE to the university,” said the official, adding that the committee has also invited Anna University Vice Chancellor MK Surappa and the members of Syndicate next week for further discussions.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Associations (TANFUFA) stated that with the university departments of Anna University getting IOE status, it is likely to become a unitary university just like when it was formed after bifurcating the University of Madras in 1978.

Stating that Anna University now comprises 4 university departments, TANFUFA president I Arul Aram said that the parent university which has the university departments should retain the name as per established conventions like it was done to University of Hyderabad, which has IOE status.