CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government has allocated Rs 300 crore for six-state run universities including Anna University and University of Madras for carrying out research and innovation activities for this academic year under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (Rusa), a state and centrally sponsored scheme.
The other university includes Annamalai University, Bharathidasan University, Bharathiyar University and Madurai Kamaraj University Higher Education Department sources said the objective of Rusa is to improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of higher education at the State level.
A senior official from the Higher Education Department said the effective implementation of Rusa phase-1 by the Tamil Nadu government has created the path for the Ministry of Education to sanction funds for the state under the Rusa phase-II scheme.
"With each university receiving Rs 50.00 crore, already Rs 180 crore has been released for various research projects in different themes", he said adding Anna University will take up electric vehicle charging station, Annamalai University at Chidambaram will do research in health and environment and Bharathidasan University at Trichy will be involved in the field of health and energy.
Stating that Bharathiyar University at Coimbatore will do research work on Cancer Theranostics, the official said Madurai Kamaraj University in Madurai will take up bio-medical sciences and the University of Madras will do research activities in bio-medical applications.
"In addition to the research grant to these six universities, each institution will also be allocated Rs 15 crore for the establishment of entrepreneur hub", he said adding skill development has received significant attention under each university's entrepreneur centres, with more than 10,000 students will benefit from 130 skill development courses.
The official pointed out that overall, Rs 874.96 crore (Central share + State share) has been approved for Rusa-phase-1 and Rusa-phase-2 scheme for Tamil Nadu.