Anna varsity to establish high-tech laboratories in constituent colleges

CHENNAI:  Anna University is planning to improve the quality of education imparted at its 13 constituent colleges across the State through measures such as establishing advanced laboratories for skill development and recruiting and training teachers. 

“We need to equip the constituent colleges with high-end labs to ensure that skill-based training is offered to students. We have requested TN government to provide at least Rs 2 crore each to the colleges,” said Vice-Chancellor R Velraj.

Software testing, machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cyber security are some of these new technologies. Most of the 13 colleges, however, did not have the laboratories needed for teaching these advanced hardware and software courses to the students, according to university officers.

“Most skill-based courses will be offered from fifth semester onwards. So, the current second-year students will start studying them in their third year. As such, we have one year to equip the colleges with these labs. And we will be able to achieve it,” added Velraj.

Due to poor infrastructure the constituent colleges, also known as University College of Engineering, in Thoothukudi, Pattukkottai, Panruti, Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, and Ariyalur struggle to attract students in first and second rounds of TNEA engineering counselling. 

Apart from labs, staff shortage is also a major problem. “In the previous years, nothing much was done to improve the infrastructure in these colleges, due to which their reputation has been hit. We will soon start the recruitment of faculty members,” said a senior officer from the university administration. Training sessions would also be organised for teachers in these colleges to make them well-versed with the new syllabus.