CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday announced in the State Assembly that a new campus would be constructed for the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, at Karapakkam in Sholinganallur at a cost of `95 crore. At present, the university is functioning in the Lady Willingdon College campus in a small place. The new campus would come up in 10 acres of land.
Making a statement under Rule 110, the Chief Minister said a new co-education arts and science college would be started at Manalmedu in Mayiladuthurai from the current academic year, following representations received from the people in Mayiladuthurai and Sirkazhi Assembly constituencies.
Jayalalithaa further said hostel buildings for students of Anna University in Chennai and administrative building for Madras Institute of Technology in Chromepet in the city would be constructed at a cost of `30.70 crore.
Stating that steps were on to fill up 1,623 vacancies for teachers in various colleges, Jayalalithaa said 1,112 Assistant Professor vacancies would be filled up through the Teachers Recruitment Board. The Chief Minister said for administrative reasons, the jurisdictions of Joint Directors of Collegiate Education in Tiruchy and Coimbatore would be split with new headquarters at Thanjavur and Dharmapuri, respectively. Further, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts would be brought under the jurisdiction of Vellore Zone Joint Director. For this purpose, the government would incur recurring and non-recurring expenditure of `3.22 crore.
Stating that making Tamil Nadu the knowledge capital of the country and a place for innovation was the objective of her government, the CMsaid the government has proposed to set up e-treasurehouse comprising contents of the textbooks being used in 13 universities. This would be connected to all universities and affiliated colleges, at a cost of `1.86 crore. She also said the zonal joint director offices for collegiate education in Tiruchy, Madurai and Tirunelveli will get own buildings at `4.59 crore. Also, during the current academic year, 163 new courses would be started. This would include 62 M.Phil and 52 Ph.D courses, besides those in UG and PG streams.