Anna University yet to publish list of affiliated colleges, causes consternation among engineering candidates

Anna University has completed an online inspection of engineering colleges for affiliation this year. However, the complete list of affiliated colleges has not been uploaded on its official website so far. This is causing consternation among engineering candidates.

Registrations for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) 2020 started on 15 July. Over 75,000 candidates have already applied. However, students are in a fix over whether their preferred college is affiliated with Anna University. Only eight colleges in Chennai district have been listed on the website as of 21 July.

“My son will be a first-generation graduate. He scored 493 out of 600 in the exam. I told him he should study only in a college affiliated to Anna University,” said an engineering aspirant’s father.

“My son, however, does not know which college he should apply to. He says he is not sure if the colleges in Thiruvallur district are affiliated to Anna University,” he said. Several others have similar complaints.

An official from the university said that it has already granted affiliation to more than 400 institutes. In fact, over 90 percent of the institutions that had applied for affiliation has been inspected. However, the remaining institutes have not yet submitted some of the necessary documents.

The official added that the university cannot release the list of affiliated colleges yet as it may lead to legal complications. “Last year, the institutions that were still in the process of submitting documents moved the court when we released the real-time update of affiliated institutions. So we are waiting for the process to be completed,” the official said.

The university is completing a process to go completely online. It is doing so as travelling to colleges is impossible at the moment. So Anna University is following the footsteps of AICTE. “If there are any concerns, then we may visit the college physically later,” said the vice-chancellor of the institute.

The secretary of TNEA said that colleges have been given a deadline of 15 August to receive affiliation. For the time being, only registration for counselling is going on.