CONVOCATION: Governor Surjit Singh Barnala handing over the gold medal to a student of the College of Engineering, Guindy, during the 26th annual convocation of Anna University held in Chennai on Thursday. Education Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam and Vice- Chancellor D.Viswanathan look on. — Photo: Vino John.

CHENNAI: The World Bank has sanctioned Rs. 89.95 crores for the Technical Education Quality Improvement (TEQIP) programme of Anna University, Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan has said. It is for modernising infrastructure in all the constituent colleges, especially for setting up state-of-the-art laboratories.

The funds will be utilised over the next two years, Dr. Viswanathan said, while presenting a report on the university's activities at the 26th annual convocation held here on Thursday.

`Astounding'

The convocation was "astounding" in that over 52,000 students received their degrees, "a figure that no university in India or even abroad can dream of," observed Dr. Viswanathan. Around 1,200 students were recruited by reputed firms during the State-level placement drive in 2004-05.

He said the Micro Satellite Project funded by the ISRO had reached the final stages of experimentation and the satellite would be ready for launch after April 2006.

A total of 52,274 students were awarded degrees, with Chancellor and Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala giving away degree certificates to 200 of them in person. Pro-Chancellor and State Education Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam was present.

While the four constituent colleges of the varsity accounted for 24 gold medallists in the

undergraduate programmes, 42 gold medallists came from autonomous colleges and 21 from affiliated colleges.

K. Ramalingam, chairman, Airports Authority of India, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa).

Trained technologists

In his convocation address, N. Sankar, chairman, The Sanmar Group, said one of the reasons Tamil Nadu attracted many multinationals and Indian business houses was the availability of large numbers of trained engineers and technologists.

Lowest cost

India had the potential to become the manufacturing powerhouse of the world as it offered the lowest possible conversion costs, thus leading to so many global technology firms setting up research or basic engineering or design and development centres here.

The opportunities for engineers in these areas were enormous, he said.

The university could consider offering after-hour short-term courses as continuing education for young engineers to enable them to upgrade their skills, Mr. Sankar added.

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