Chennai: If remarks made by Tamilnadu Higher Education Minister K P Anbalagan are any indication, the State government is set to reject the Institute of Eminence (IoE) status offered to Anna University, as it would affect the 69-per cent reservation in the State-run varsity, brought in by former Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa ‘after a long battle’.
The Minister said if Anna University, Tamilnadu’s largest technical university, gets the IoE recognition, it will have to stop the reservation system, and the process could also lead to increase in the fee structure.
Anna University did not require an IoE status if it meant loss of reservation and made the University exclusive in denying the entry of poor students, he said.
He added: “69 per cent reservations will become a question mark, there will entrance exams, then a hike in fees. Amma’s government does not need all that. The Vice Chancellor’s tenure is fixed, but the government has a mandate to protect institutions for posterity.”
He also said, “The Vice Chancellor’s letter, though unilateral, pertained solely to the financial state of the University and its ability to mobilise finances for the IoE status. But the question then is, where will these funds come from? Will they take it from the affiliate colleges and regional centres?”
The disagreement over the IoE status started after Anna University V-C M K Surappa wrote to the Centre in August last year to get the IoE tag for the university, allegedly without consulting the goverment.