Anna University was formed on September 4, 1978 as a unitary type of university. It integrated 4 well-known technical institutions in the city of Chennai (previously known as Madras), the oldest of which was the College of Engineering, Guindy, started in 1794. Perarignar Anna University of Technology (PAUT) was the original name used in 1978. In 1982 the current name of Anna University was coined removing the words "Perarignar" and "Technology". In December 2001, it was converted into an affiliating university, with almost all engineering colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu under its fold and also absorbing all the 6 government engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu as its constituent colleges.
It is also ranked tenth (10) by the Outlook India magazine for the year 2007 in the top 50 government engineering colleges in India. Anna University, one of the premier technical institutions in the country, is committed to ensuring transfer of knowledge of the highest order from teachers to students. The transformation of classroom technology from hardware into software related tools for teaching and learning depends on knowledgeable and dedicated teachers who have core-technology competencies and skills. Anna University can proudly boast of such teachers who are very knowledgeable and who serve in the cause of education with great sincerity and dedication.
The University with its infrastructure facilities existed has started growing and raised to the standards of Higher Education and has worldwide recognition in the field of Engineering, Technology and Applied Sciences.
Considering the excellent growth of Anna University, the Government of Tamil Nadu, during December 2001, have upgraded the University from unitary typo to affiliating type of University by bringing together about 250 Engineering Colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu. Since 13 Feb, 2007 only the colleges situated in the districts of Chennai, Thiruvallur, Vellore, Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai and Vilupuram in Tamil Nadu State have been affiliated to Anna University. Anna University has under its fold four campuses (CEG, ACT and SAP in the Main Campus and MIT in Chromepet) having departments of Engineering, Technology and Applied sciences, and, under affiliation, about 108 self financing colleges and 1 Government College located in the above districts of Tamil Nadu.
