Rank 18 - Anna University : Unwieldy, but Top Infrastructure

For another returnee to the Top 20 club (after giving the survey a miss last
year), academic environment and infrastructure are Anna Universitys strong
points. The HR perception score is also not bad, but an abysmally low score in
industry interface and average score on placements bring its overall rank down a
few notches. For one, Anna University administrators have been plagued by the
difficulties in trying to manage more than 230 affiliated colleges spread across
the state. It was in 2002, that all the engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu (till
then under the regional universities) were brought under the academic control of
Anna University. Answer paper scams, dispute over NRI admissions and validity of
SC/ST admissions and a myriad of other problems have also affected its industry
and HR scores.

On the IT infrastructure front though Anna Universitys College of
Engineering ranks among the top institutes in the country. In 2008-09, it
deployed campuswide Wi-Fi connectivity, VoIP, 10 GBPS backbone for campus
network as well as video conferencing facilities. This year, it plans to
establish eighty-two smart class rooms. There is an MoU in place with IBM to
impart open standard skills It has also been on the forefront in R&Dthe
Electrical and Electronics Department is part of the team developing the
micro-satellite (ANUSAT) sponsored by ISRO. It was recognized under NaMPET and
received grants for Power Electronics related research and applications.

Advanced faculty development programs on mobile computing as well as
environmental science and engineering were often high points. Patents have been
filed on diverse areas like robotic cooking machine, automatic DD and cash
deposit system as well as currency identifier for visually impaired persons
among others.