About
The University of Madras or Madras University is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest universities in India, incorporated by an Act of Legislative Council of India under the British government.
It is a collegiate research university and has six campuses in the city: Chepauk, Marina, Guindy, Taramani, Maduravoyal and Chetpet. It offers more than 230 courses under 87 academic departments of post-graduate teaching and research grouped under 18 schools, covering diverse areas such as sciences, social sciences, humanities, management and medicine along with 121 affiliated colleges and 53 approved research institutions.
Organisation and administration
History
The first ever demand for higher education in Madras Presidency was given in a public address to Lord John Elphinstone, Governor of Madras, signed by 70,000 residents when the Governor in Council was contemplating “some effective and liberal measures for the establishment of an improved system of national education.”
The University Board was constituted in January 1840 with Mr. George Norton as its president. This was the precursor of the present Presidency College, Chennai.
In 1912 endowments were made to the university to establish departments of Indian History, Archaeology, Comparative Philology and Indian Economics. In that year the university had 17 departments, 30 teachers, and 69 research scholars.
Between 1926 and 1939, the university published the comprehensive Tamil Lexicon dictionary, which is the first among the dictionaries published in any Indian language.
Coat of arms
The motto scroll is edged red, with black lettering. The English translation of the motto of the University of Madras is: “Learning promotes natural talent.”
Campus
The university has six campuses: Chepauk, Marina, Guindy, Taramani, Chetpet and Maduravoyal. The Chepauk campus of the university houses the administrative buildings, the historic Senate House, central library, clock tower, centenary auditorium, and several departments under arts, humanities and social science streams. The schools of oriental and Indian are located in the Marina campus. The Guindy campus incorporates the natural sciences departments while the campus at Taramani houses the school of basic medical sciences.
The Senate House
The University of Madras has a historical monument – Senate House – which is one of the landmarks of the city of Chennai. The Senate House, the university’s first building, inaugurated in the year 1879, is a masterpiece of Robert Fellowes Chisholm, an architect of the 19th century, who blended the Indo-Saracenic style with Byzantine and European architectural features. The university renovated the Senate House in 2006.
Organisation and administration
Governance
The Organisational structure of Madras University consists of the Senate, the Syndicate, the Academic Council, the Faculties, the Finance Committee, and the Boards of Studies. The Governor of Tamil Nadu is the Chancellor of the university. The Vice-Chancellor is the executive head of the university.
Academics
Internationally, Madras University is ranked 1213rd overall and 559th in the field of Chemistry by U.S. News & World Report for the year 2020. In India, the National Institutional Ranking Framework ranked it 22nd among universities in 2020. The Week-Hansa Research best university survey of 2019 ranked it 11th in the multi-disciplinary university category and it was ranked 20th in the Outlook-ICARE university ranking of 2020.
Madras University Library System
The library system of the university consists of four central libraries located at its Chepauk, Marina, Guindy and Taramani campus.Besides, many of the departments and centres have their own library collections.
“Above mentioned information taken from Wikipedia”