Common syllabus for merger of AUTs

ERODE/COIMBATORE: The State Government has set in motion the process for the merger of the five Anna Universities of Technology (AUTs) with the premier Anna University in Chennai as declared in the Legislative Assembly.As a first step, it has decided to mandate all engineering colleges across Tamil Nadu, irrespective of the Anna University of Technology to which they are affiliated, to follow a common syllabus for the first year students admitted this year.  In a communication to the five Anna Universities of Technology at Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli, the Government has directed them to “follow the regulations, curricula and syllabi of 2008 of undergraduate programmes of affiliated institutions of Anna University, Chennai.” Acting on the direction, Registrars of the five nna Universities of Technologyhave instructed principals of all engineering colleges to adopt the common curricula and syllabi, details of which are available on the Anna University website.  Although the Anna University was split in 2007 by creating Anna University of Technology at Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli (later Chennai and Tiruchi), in 2008 since the universities were new they had adopted the syllabi framed by the Anna University itself.  Now, citing a fall in the standards of technical education by the creation of new universities, the Government has decided to once again grant affiliating powers to the Anna University.  The Government’s communication mandating a common syllabus for the first year students is seen as the first step towards the proposed merger/dissolution of the Anna Universities of Technology.