Andhra University is set to receive a number of high profile guests in December. While Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is alumnus of the university confirmed his visit to the campus on December 9, the day AU celebrates its annual ‘Alumni Day’, plans are on to invite President Ram Nath Kovind to pay a visit to the campus.
“We met Mr. Kovind in August in Delhi and he evinced keen interest in visiting our campus during his visit to the Eastern Naval Command in the first week of December,” said Vice-Chancellor G. Nageswara Rao.
Convention centres
The 91-year-old university has lined up a series of events for the VVIP visitors. While Mr. Venkaiah Naidu will primarily come to participate in the Alumni Meet along with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, he is likely to inaugurate the convention centre being built by the university on Beach Road.
Work is on a fast pace at the tortoise-shaped convention centre that is coming up on an 8-acre piece of land on Beach Road.
“We have now only finishing works such as panelling and painting is going on. We intend to complete the work by November 30 and get it inaugurated by Mr. Venkaiah Naidu in the presence of the Chief Minister. We also intend to hold the alumni meeting at the convention centre,” said the V-C.
The overall floor space will be over 40,000 sft, excluding the landscaping, and seating capacity will be around 1800.
The convention centre is being built at a cost of about ₹ 14 crore. While ₹ 6 crore is being borne by the university, the remaining will be shared by the Ministry of HRD, CSR and alumni funds and other bodies such as UGC, informed Prof. Nageswara Rao to The Hindu.
R&D building
The university also plans to lay the foundation of the proposed five-floor R&D centre by the Vice-President during the same time. The Centre is scheduled to come up on the land where the old Department of Fine Arts once existed, near the Science College.
According to Prof. Nageswara Rao, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has already sanctioned ₹ 16 crore for the purchase of scientific equipment. “We are raising another ₹ 10 crores from various sources such as CSR funding and alumni contribution. Purna Rao Saggurti of Bank of America, who is also an alumnus of the university, has promised to contribute a sizeable fund for the development of the R&D centre,” said the V-C.
The centre apart from having a R&D wing will also have an incubation centre for the start-ups. “It will be open to all science and engineering students and research scholars. The centre can also be used as a consultation centre by others,” he said.
According to the V-C, the university is also mulling to get the Siemens R&D centre inaugurated by Mr. Venkaiah Naidu.
Siemens has already given equipment worth ₹ 60 crore and has promised to give equipment worth ₹ 300 crore in the coming years. “This centre will be coming up in phases at various engineering departments such as mechanical and electrical. And the first one is coming up at the Mechanical Engineering Department,” said Prof. Nageswara Rao.