CHENNAI: A paucity of funds has long held back the full potential of Anna University’s Centre of Excellence for Cloud Computing (CECC) and International Centre for Research Facilitation and Training (ICRFT), established almost a decade ago to boost research.
The future of the centres looks bleaker, as the varsity now mulls their closure, since running them would require a huge investment and they are still in their nascent stages. However, the idea was rejected in a recent syndicate meeting leaving the varsity in quandary.
A syndicate member said the proposal was rejected on the grounds that the centres have high potential for development. “The then higher education secretary had asked for the centres’ revival, but how is that possible without funds?” he asked, commenting that the revival would be a “herculean task” without financial assistance from the state.
The CECC was conceptualised to create an enabling environment for students to be trained in the latest cloud technologies and to make them industry-ready. “Cloud computing gained popularity two to three years ago, but we had set up the CECC almost a decade ago.
We were aware of the sector’s huge potential but we never received the kind of funding the centre required. Funds are needed to continuously update the equipment and software to conduct hackathons and programming events,” said a professor. Over `40 lakh has been invested in this centre so far, said sources.
Similarly, the ICRFT was conceptualised to keep high-end research equipment available in the university under one roof so that all departments can utilise them accordingly; students could get hands-on training and equipment maintenance would be easier. However, things never went as planned.
“Over Rs 5 crore has been spent in different phases for purchasing high-end equipment, but we continuously need to upgrade the machines, which is difficult. At a time when we are struggling to arrange funds to better the condition of our constituent colleges, allocating so much money for this centre was unfair, “ said a former vice-chancellor of the university.