IIT Chairman's Press Conv @ Coimbatore

The call to convert the four Anna universities into unitary research institutes is nothing but restoring them to their original ethos for which they were created, M. Anandakrishnan, Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and Madras Institute of Developmental Studies, Chennai, told a press conference here on Tuesday.

Referring to the proposal he had made at the recently held Vice-Chancellors’ conference to create six regional technical affiliating universities and convert the four Anna universities into unitary research institutes, he asserted that if the proposal were to be implemented in the true spirit, it would foster the growth of research that was required for the development of the country.

Proposal were to be implemented in the true spirit, it would foster the growth of research

“The colleges affiliated to the four universities should be distributed among the six regional universities. Each university should not have more than 50 colleges under it and should not function like a conventional one. The Anna universities on the other hand should only concentrate on specialised courses and location-specific research,” Mr. Anandakrishnan said.

Blaming the system of affiliation for the deterioration of higher education in India, he said: “Only 20 per cent of the institutions are universities. The major chunk is under affiliation. We should do away with affiliation. Only India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal still follow the affiliation system,” he pointed out.He called for greater autonomy for newly formed colleges and to convert older colleges into universities.

The country needed 1,500 universities. However, he warned against autonomy without accountability. “There are some family-owned deemed universities in the State where you can buy degrees. This is not the kind of autonomy we need.”Tamil Nadu was likely to get an Indian Institute of Information Technology, a Central University and also an Indian Institute of Management, he said. The Central Government had also decided on setting up of three more Indian Institutes of Technology in the country. The location would be decided after assessing the infrastructure and the level of community involvement.

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