Anna University’s syndicate meeting yet to be held

CHENNAI: As the syndicate meeting of Anna University, the highest decision taking body of the institution, is yet to be held, many agendas, including a status report on all pending enquiries against staff members, are getting delayed. The last meeting was held on March 10.

The proposed meeting will assume significance as Anna University had recently issued notices to 141 colleges for various issues including shortage of professors, improper maintenance of libraries and poor lab facilities for students. Additionally, the university had recently released norms for faculty recruitment in affiliated colleges for 2025-26.

The purpose of the meeting is to review topics such as appointment of key personnel, affiliation of colleges and related issues, academic matters like curriculum changes and exam patterns, approval of schemes and proposals and addressing complaints and irregularities. It also addresses budget approvals, recognition of research institutes, granting autonomous status to colleges, and campus status.

A senior professor at the varsity, said, “During the previous meeting, it was proposed to cancel or drop all the MoUs that were approved by syndicate but not engaged for more than six months. “This was expected to be taken up in the 275th meeting but there is no indication or proposal to conduct it at this point of time,” he added. “The meeting is also important since the engineering admissions are going on with the first round of counselling being over.”

Recalling the gap between earlier syndicate meetings, sources at Anna University stated that the 273rd meeting was held on January 8, and the following one was organised on March 10. “The gap of 2 months between meetings shows that there is no fixed time period between them. Meetings will be fixed when the university authorities need them to discuss and decide on institution-related matters,” claimed a source.