On a roll

The collective focus of the university is on promoting and developing quality higher education.

in VisakhapatnamDepartment of Zoology,

ANDHRA UNIVERSITY, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country, is close to the hearts of Telugu-speaking people. Efforts by their leaders in the erstwhile composite Madras Presidency resulted in the formation of the university through the Madras Act No. 11 of 1926.

It was the first in the country to be conceived as a residential, teaching-cum-affiliating university, with its focus on postgraduate teaching and research. Though the university was started in Vijayawada (then known as Bezawada), it was shifted to Visakhapatnam a few years later, thanks to the vision of Sir C.R. Reddy, the first Vice-Chancellor, who felt that the port city was better suited for education. In the early 1930s, the ruling family of Bobbili made available a building for a College of Arts. The annual donation of Rs.1 lakh by Raja Vikram Deo Varma of Jeypore was a major factor in the development of a College of Science and Technology.

Andhra University had to be shifted to Guntur during the Second World War but returned to Visakhapatnam after the war. After that, the university went through a phase of remarkable growth, with the addition of many departments and the development of its infrastructure.

Andhra University is now a major educational centre, thanks to the untiring efforts of C.R. Reddy, who held the post of Vice-Chancellor for two terms, preceding and succeeding Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became President of India; Dr. V.S. Krishna and successive Vice-Chancellors; and an array of noted educationalists such as Professor B.R. Rao, Prof. Suri Bhagavantham, Prof. M.S. Krishna, Prof. L.R. Rao, Prof. C. Mahadevan, Prof. Koteswaram, Prof. Sachidananda Murthy, Prof. T.R. Seshadri, Prof. Hiren Mukherjee, Prof. Humayun Kabir, Prof. V.K.R.V. Rao, Prof. Srinivasa Iyengar, Prof. Nagabhushanam, Prof. B. Sarveswara Rao, Prof. R.V.R. Chandrasekhara Rao and Swami Jnanananda. The universitys association with Sir C.V. Raman has also contributed to its stature.

It was the first Indian university to start an honours course in commerce, way back in 1934. In the initial phase of the university, the plan was to run it on the lines of the Universities of Manchester and Leeds. It would offer not just the routine courses of study but also courses designed to meet the demands of the industries in its neighbourhood. Thus it introduced sugar technology very early on and also geophysics, keeping in view the countrys plans for oil exploration. Then followed meteorology, oceanography, nuclear physics, pharmacy, engineering, and so on. It now offers programmes in the nanosciences, biotechnology, bioinformatics and courses in other cutting-edge technologies. Also on offer is an MBA in Retail Management.

Andhra University started out with a few students, a handful of teachers and a few buildings. It now has five campus colleges, for arts and commerce, science and technology, engineering, pharmacy, and law, with a student strength of about 12,500, more than 800 faculty members and more than 3,000 support staff. More than a hundred buildings dot the sprawling campus spread over 400 acres. There are nearly two dozen hostels to accommodate students and research scholars. Canteens, health centres and other infrastructure have been provided. The Dr. V.S. Krishna Library, the main library of the university, is one of the biggest libraries in the country, with more than five lakh books and nearly 550 journals.

Department of Commerce

The university has postgraduate centres at Kakinada, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Tadepalligudem. As many as 521 colleges, including 117 postgraduate colleges, are affiliated to the university. More than three lakh students study in these colleges. The postgraduate centre established at Guntur was upgraded as Acharya Nagarjuna University in 1976. Adikavai Nannaya University, with Rajahmundry as its headquarters and covering East and West Godavari districts, has been carved out of Andhra University. It is expected to function independently in a few years.

Andhra University also has the distinction of being the first conventional Indian university to receive the ISO 9001:2000 certificate and is now in the process of improving upon the A rating it obtained in 2002 from the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC). The AU College of Engineering (autonomous) has been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and rated as the best in Andhra Pradesh.

An internal quality assurance cell (IQAC) has been formed to ensure quality in the university and to assure the stake holders teachers, parents, employees, funding agencies and society in general of quality and probity.

Our focus is to excel in higher education and research and to promote and develop higher education on a sound lines in this region, says Vice-Chancellor Prof. L. Venu Gopal Reddy. The university has been successful in finding employment for its students through campus interviews.

Venu Gopal Reddy has worked hard on signing out memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with reputed international and national universities and organisations in a bid to make Andhra University a global institution. From this academic year, students from Andhra University and other regions are joining foreign universities through double degree and twinning programmes. For the first time in Andhra Universitys history, a large number of students from foreign countries have joined different courses here. Andhra University is probably one of the few Indian universities to sign as many as 35 MoUs with universities and organisations in India and abroad.

At the universitys

Double degree/twinning programmes are organised through MoUs. The universitys own students as well as those from other regions have started joining these programmes. Some of them are all set to do a part of their degree in foreign universities. The students have the advantage of receiving at the end of the course a degree that is accepted in foreign countries. Some courses, such as the M.S. double degree programmes in Software Engineering and Signal Processing, conducted at the AU College of Engineering and in the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BIT) in Sweden, are exempted from tuition fees. There are no campus interviews at the end of the course, but graduates from BIT are preferred by multinational corporations in Sweden.

Andhra University has also entered into MoUs with Kansas State University for research and development, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), HSBC for a B.Com. course (customer service) through its School of Distance Education, Alcorn State University (U.S.), University of Delaware, University of Alaska, Jackson State University, UND Life Science of the U.S., the Indian Navy for a course in maritime studies, the National Geophysical Research Institute, Soonchunhyang University in South Korea, the Lions Club, and NATCO Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad. These tie-ups are expected to result in better infrastructure for the university.

In addition to the two courses with BIT, Andhra University has launched twinning programmes in M.S. (Molecular Biology and Biotechnology) with Kansas State University and B.S. (Hotel Management) with University of Delaware. In the past year, delegations from foreign universities and institutions and senior officials like Chief Controller (R&D) of the DRDO, A. Sivathanu Pillai, visited the university campus for assessment studies and for signing MoUs.

Andhra University had foreign students on its campus in the past, too. In the past few months, however, dozens of them, mostly from African countries and some from West Asia and South East Asia, have arrived at the university, thanks to the administrations efforts. Recently, the Ethiopian Embassy sent a cheque for $150,000 towards tuition fees and other fees of students from that country. Students who are children of non-resident Indians have contributed Rs.80 lakh towards tuition fees in the current academic year.

Andhra University is constructing two hostels for foreign students with five-star facilities. Both buildings are expected to be ready within a month. The universitys aim is to attract more foreign students.

Andhra University has achieved something that the other general universities in the country could not. It secured the ISO 9001:2000 certificate last December for its quality standards and is keen to hold on to this prestigious tag. The ISO certificate was awarded for the universitys design of curriculum, syllabus, regulations and eligibility norms for graduate, postgraduate and research programmes, teaching, examinations, evaluation, and so on. The ISO certification should stand the university in good stead when the peer committee of the NAAC next visits the campus. The IQAC prepared a quality manual, and a team of 20 trained internal quality auditors conducted the audit for all academic departments. The universitys aim is to impart globally focussed education, create world class professionals, establish synergic bonds with industry and society and develop state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Every department has a quality objective and a circle has been established to achieve it. The Vice-Chancellor holds an IQAC management review meeting every month with the principals of campus colleges and departmental heads. The IQAC has asked the affiliated colleges to establish quality assurance cells.

Vice-Chancellor L. Venu

Apart from the stress on quality, Andhra University has introduced some methods to improve the functioning of its departments. There is performance evaluation for the faculty: feedback is sought from the students on their teachers performance and on the curriculum, infrastructure, administration and support services. Feedback is also sought from employees, parents, retired faculty members, staff and alumni.

A students charter mentions the goals and commitments of the university as well as the responsibilities of students.

Venu Gopal Reddy has introduced two innovative programmes: Dial Your University, in which he or other senior officials answer telephonic questions about the university, and the University Adalat, where campus disputes are settled.

For the past one and a half years, the university administration has been concentrating on constructing more buildings. The central canteen was rebuilt; the convocation theatre was renovated and air conditioning was installed; the central library was renovated, and many departments were extended. A guest house is being built, with facilities for holding seminars and meetings.

All departments on the campus are electronically linked and online examinations have been introduced.

Andhra University will host the 95th annual Indian Science Congress from January 3 to 7, 2008. This is the second time that the university will be hosting the congress. It hosted the congress for the first time in 1976, which was also the first time that concepts and focal themes evolved at the Science Congress were taken as a basis for some of the proposals for the Union Budget.

It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and presided over by noted agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan, who was then the president of the Indian Science Congress. The focal theme suggested for the Budget was rural development, university sources said.

The Indian Science Congress is an important annual event, and the university hosting it is required to make elaborate arrangements. It is customary for the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Science Congress every year. There are usually some 6,000 delegates attending the conference.

As part of the arrangements for the Science Congress, the universitys 24 hostels will be vacated during the conference to accommodate the delegates.

The Andhra University School of Distance Education (AUSDE) is a major institution. Established in 1972, it has 87,000 students on its rolls.

The school offers some 50 courses, from certificate courses in languages to B.E., B.Tech, MBA., MCA., MHRM. and an executive MBA programme for the employed.

The AUSDE is housed in a spacious building with classrooms, audio-visual equipment and examination halls. A radio station Gyan Vani is also located in the building. Periodically, AUSDE officials organise phone-in programmes to clear doubts and provide information about the institution. AUSDE has 34 study centres across the State and outside, where application forms are sold, classes are held, and information about the courses is made available.

The Andhra University administration has introduced significant reforms in the area of examinations. For instance, the university now provides 32-page booklets for students to write their answers during examinations. No extra sheets are provided. Each student has his or her name, hall and hall-ticket number printed on his/her booklet. Its first page also has his/her photograph and signature scanned on it. The marks awarded to the candidate are also noted on the first page, which is bar-coded. The bar-coded first page eliminates chances of manipulation of marks.