Buoyed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) granting graded autonomy to Andhra University, the administration of the university has allotted a huge chunk from the budget for developing infrastructure in the campus.
The 91-year-old university has allocated to the tune of ₹25 crore for developing infrastructure from the budget.
The total budget of AU is around ₹486 crore and it receives a block grant of about ₹ 313 crore from the government and the remaining about ₹173 crore will be met from the universities funds.
“And from the ₹173 crore, we have allocated ₹25 crore for developing infrastructure not only in our north and south campuses but also at our campus in Vizianagaram,” said Vice-Chancellor G. Nageswara Rao.
AU has around 110 acres in Vizianagaram and it is threatened with encroachment. The university has resolved to build a compound wall for the property and construct one boys and one girls’ hostel at a cost of ₹6 crore.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, one more 60-room boys’ hostel will be built in the next academic year on the main campus.
“The girls’ hostel is already coming up with RUSA funds, the boys hostel will be built with our funds,” he said.
Innovation centre
“These apart, we will be adding one more floor to the hospital building, an additional floor to the computer science engineering block, one more floor to the civil engineering block, one more floor to the innovation centre, two more floors to the existing M-Pharmacy hostel at MVP Colony, additional floor to the ECE block, one more floor to the architecture college, add another floor to the fine arts block and develop the canteen in north campus,” said Prof. Nageswara Rao.
The Vice-Chancellor also informed The Hindu that some amount has been allocated to the Siemens Centre and the number of labs will be enhanced from 11 to 14 and ₹ 90 lakh has been sanctioned for office automation.
Funding
According to Prof. Nageswara Rao, the entire amount of ₹25 crore will be borne from the university’s internal resources, but at the same time, the university is hoping that MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) will sanction about ₹. 50 crore to all Category-I universities.
“The UGC autonomy gives us freedom to start new courses, recruit foreign teachers and develop infrastructure, and MHRD has a provision to fund the universities, depending on their grading,” added Prof. Nageswara Rao.
