The Indian Institute of Information Technology would start functioning temporarily from the Bharathidasan Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, from the ensuing academic year.
Announcing this in the Assembly on Thursday, the Minister for Higher Education, P. Palaniappan, said that it would function under public-private partnership mode with the objective of catering to skilled human resource requirements in IT and other areas. The government had identified 56.37 acres of land in Sethurapatti village of Srirangam taluk for constructing buildings for the Rs 128 crore project. TAKE Solutions, Cognizant Technologies Solutions, Pratiksha Infosys, TATA Consultancy Services Limited and Ramco Systems had provided Rs two crore each for the institute.
Two more engineering colleges
The Minister also announced the starting of two government engineering colleges in Chettikarai (Dharmapuri) and Sengipatti (Thanjavur) at a cost of Rs 89.9 crore. Buildings would be constructed at a cost of Rs 13.3 crore for the 10 new government polytechnics in Srirangam, Gandharvakottai, Sankarapuram, Perunthurai, Ariyalur, Uthankarai, Jolarpet, Andipatti, Usilampatti and Chekkanoorani.
Integrated boards of studies
Mr. Palaniappan said that the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education would form State Integrated Boards of Studies in Biological and Biotechnological Science; Mathematical Sciences; Physical Science and Chemical Science; Computer Science and Information Technology; Managerial and Business Sciences; Social Science; Humanities and Languages for providing compatibility in subjects offered by the State universities and facilitating mobility of students and teachers.
Tuition fee exemption for first generation graduates getting admitted to engineering colleges under government quota through single window counselling had been extended to Sri Lankan Tamil students living in refugee camps.
Earlier, responding to a plea by DMDK member S. R. Parthiban for action against colleges collecting excess fee, the Minister said that no complaint had been received so far. When the DMK member Govi. Chezhiaan appealed to the government to postpone the semester examinations in view of working days lost due to students’ strike in the Sri Lankan Tamils’ issue, Mr. Palaniappan said that colleges had been instructed to conduct extra classes without affecting examination schedule.
