Colleagues and associates of M. Anandakrishnan recalled their interactions with the former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, who later went on to chair dozens of committees to improve the quality of education at the State and national level.
On his first memorial day event held at the university, former director of College of Engineering, Guindy, T.R. Jagadeesan, said Anandakrishnan identified uncharted areas such as the Institute for Remote Sensing and the Anna University FRG CAD-CAM Centre that established the university’s capabilities. He introduced a postgraduate programme in polymer science, which was till then an unknown field.
He convinced Germany of the competency of the faculty of Anna University and secured grants for both the centres from a country that was investing heavily on the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Mr. Jagadeesan recalled.
Most significant was his emphasis on improving the quality of education. He had participated in quality improvement programmes for the faculty, a process that the university could revive, he said.
As a tribute to him, the batch of 1956-60 had adopted a tribal school in Yelagiri near Vaniyambadi, his home town, Prof. Jagadeesan said and urged the alumni to follow suit.
S. Sathik, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras, said when he was director of MIT campus, Anandakrishnan’s unstinted praise of work on the campus had influenced the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to offer him the V-C post.
Anna University V-C R. Velraj recalled that as a young lecturer when he had sought permission to go abroad for higher education, Anandakrishnan, who was the VC then, approved it as he said it would accrue benefits to the university.
Sathya Moorthi Anandakrishnan said his father credited his grandmother and life partner with teaching him to seek beyond instead of settling for what was easily at reach. “My father always idolised his teachers,” he said, recalling several instances of how his teachers had shaped his career.
Anandakrishnan’s daughter-in-law Uma Devi Ravi, an alumnus of CEG, has instituted a ₹5 lakh scholarship for the disadvantaged and deserving students at Guindy, he added.
