The Anna University Teachers’ Association (AUTA) has urged Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit not to give his assent to the state government’s bill that gives a new name to Anna University. The bill, which was recently passed in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, calls for the bifurcation of the university into two bodies – Anna Technological and Research University, which will comprise the four constituent colleges of the university, and Anna University, which will be an administrative body in charge of affiliating private engineering colleges from across the state.
As per the state government’s proposal, the Anna Technological and Research University will consist of the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Alagappa College of Technology (ACT) and the School of Architecture and Planning (SAP). Anna University, which will have no educational institutions under its name, will function as an affiliating body for other engineering colleges in the state.
The move, which has been proposed since around the time Anna University was mooted to be denominated as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) by the union ministry of Education (MHRD), has not gone down well with the staff members of the university. They have been protesting in various ways – showing up to work with black badges, forming a human chain, etc. – to register their opposition to the move.
Speaking to TNM about the protest, AUTA President Arul Aram said that it was these four constituent colleges that first came together to form Anna University in 1978. “Much of the university’s name and fame came from the output of these colleges. It is logical to expect the new body that comes out of the bifurcation to have a new name. But the bill says that the older parent body, with these four colleges, will have a new name,” he explained.
Adding that Anna University is a brand by itself and that a good share of research papers with high impact have been published from these four colleges, Arul Aram said that it is unfair, unethical and unacceptable for a government to strip the colleges of the ‘Anna University’ tag and give it to an affiliating body. His concerns stem from the fact that if the bill receives the Governor’s assent, then all private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu will get to enjoy the brand ‘Anna University’ and premier institutes like CEG and MIT will not be associated with the brand.
The AUTA also released a statement on Tuesday that said, “..and all our credentials such as ranking, journal papers, patents and MoUs are in the name of Anna University. The proposed new name ‘Anna Technological and Research University’ does not go well with our teachers, students and alumni. We get an ill-feeling of our intellectual property rights being robbed.”
The statement added that it would be prudent to retain the name of the parent university and give a new name to the offspring (the affiliating body).
Meanwhile, the university is yet to receive the IoE tag as the MHRD and is awaiting a letter of commitment from the state government in this regard.