The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

state university A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, territory or federal district. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country. State univers ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an act of the Legislative Council of India under the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

. It is a collegiate

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

and has six campuses in the city:

Chepauk Chepauk is a locality in Chennai, India. The name Chepauk is popularly used to refer to the M. A. Chidambaram International Cricket Stadium, also known as the Chepauk Stadium. It is also home to the Chepauk Palace, built in the Indo-Saracenic ...

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

Guindy Guindy is one of the most important neighborhoods of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and is nicknamed as ''The Gateway to Chennai''. The Kathipara junction where Anna Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Roa ...

Taramani Tharamani is an area in the south Indian city of Chennai. It is known for the presence of the city's first IT parks and numerous government educational and research institutions. It is located adjacent to the posh residential area of Adyar an ...

Maduravoyal Maduravoyal is a residential neighbourhood located in the west of Chennai, India. As of 2011, the town had a population of 86,195. Maduravoyal also has a name as "ettam kal" (8th mile), so it could be famous in British Period too, it is exac ...

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. The university houses the national centres for advanced research in

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

photonics Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...

and

neurotoxicity Neurotoxicity is a form of toxicity in which a biological, chemical, or physical agent produces an adverse effect on the structure or function of the central and/or peripheral nervous system. It occurs when exposure to a substance – specificall ...

. In addition, it has three ''Centres of Advanced Study (CAS)'' in

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. University of Madras is the alma mater of five

presidents of India The president of India is the head of state of the Republic of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The president is referred to as the first citizen of India. Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of In ...

, including A. P. J. Abdul Kalam; two Indian physics

Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...

CV Raman Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (; 7 November 188821 November 1970) was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering. Using a spectrograph that he developed, he and his student K. S. Krishnan discovered that wh ...

and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar; several notable mathematicians including

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan (; born Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar, ; 22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis ...

;

Abel Prize The Abel Prize ( ; no, Abelprisen ) is awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. It is named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) and directly modeled after the Nobel Prizes. ...

winner

S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan Sathamangalam Ranga Iyengar Srinivasa Varadhan FRS (born 2 January 1940) is an Indian American mathematician, widely recognised as one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century. He is known for his fundamental contributions to ...

; and

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in compu ...

winner

Raj Reddy Dabbala Rajagopal "Raj" Reddy (born 13 June 1937) is an Indian-American computer scientist and a winner of the Turing Award. He is one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence and has served on the faculty of Stanford and Carnegie Mello ...

among others. The

National Assessment and Accreditation Council The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is a government organisation in India that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is an autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission and headquarte ...

has conferred 'five star' accreditation to the university in the first cycle, and subsequently with its highest 'A' grade. The University of Madras has been given the status of 'university with potential for excellence (UPE)' by the University Grants Commission. Madras University is also recognized among the 18 universities in India having the 'Centre with Potential for Excellence in Particular Area (CPEPA)' with a focus on

drug development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for re ...

and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

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 The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...

was contemplating "some effective and liberal measures for the establishment of an improved system of national education." This public petition, which was presented by the Advocate General Mr George Norton on 11 November 1839, pressed the need for an English college in the city of Madras. Pursuant to this, Lord Elphinstone evolved a plan for the establishment of a central collegiate institution or a ‘university.’ This university had twin departments – a high school for the cultivation of English literature, regional language, philosophy and science, and a college for instruction in the higher branches of literature, philosophy and science. 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 Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...

. A systematic educational policy for India was formulated 14 years later by

Wood's despatch In 1854, Sir Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the British East India Company, sent a formal dispatch to Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor-General of India, suggesting a large shift to English language use within India. Sir C ...

, which pointed out the rationale for "creating a properly articulated system of education from the primary school to the University." The dispatch recommended the establishment in the universities of professorships "for the purposes of the delivery of lectures in various branches of learning including vernacular as well as classical languages." As a result, the University of Madras, organised on the model of the University of London, was incorporated on 5 September 1857 by an act of the Legislative Council of India. The university progressed and expanded through the 19th century to span the whole of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

, giving birth to universities like

Mysore University The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission ...

(1916),

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918 , He released a farman to establish OSMANIA UNIVERSITY on the day of 28 August 1918. It ...

(1918),

Andhra University Andhra University ( IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest d ...

(1926),

Annamalai University , logo = CampusmapofAU.jpg , image = Annamalai University logo.png , image_size = 225px , motto = "With Courage and Faith" , established = , type ...

(1929),

Travancore University University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chi ...

(1937) presently

University of Kerala University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chit ...

, Sri Venkateswara University (1954),

Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) is a public state university located in Madurai city, in southern Tamil Nadu, India, established in 1966. MKU is one of the 15 universities in India with the University with Potential for Excellence status, wh ...

(1966),

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is the state agricultural university of Tamil Nadu located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. History The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural sc ...

(1971),

Anna University Anna University is a public state university located in Tamil Nadu, India. The main campus is in Chennai. It was originally established on 4 September 1978 and was named after C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. History & ...

(1978),

Tamil University The Tamil University is a public state university located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established to provide higher research in the Tamil language. Location The university is situated in a campus of about , granted by the ...

(1981),

Bharathidasan University Bharathidasan University (BDU) is a university in the city of Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located on Tiruchirappalli-Pudukkottai National Highway 336. It has affiliated colleges in the districts of Ariyalur district, Karur, Nag ...

(1982),

Bharathiar University Bharathiar University is a Public university, public State university (India), state university in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Named after Tamil people, Tamil poet Subramania Bharati, the university was established in February 1982 under th ...

(1982),

Mother Teresa Women's University Mother Teresa Women's University, a state university of the Government of Tamil Nadu, is situated at Kodaikanal, in the Palani hills of South India. It was established in the year 1984 by the enactment of Tamil Nadu Act 15. This university aim ...

(1984),

Alagappa University Alagappa University is a public university located in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India. Originated from Alagappa Arts College, founded by Alagappa Chettiar in 1947, it was established in 1985 by an Act of the Tamil Nadu government. It was conve ...

(1985), Dr. M.G.R. Medical University (1989), Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (1989),

Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Manonmaniam Sundaranar University is a university in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was hived off the Madurai Kamaraj University on 7 September 1990. The motto of the university is "In Pursuit of Excellence". It is named after the Tamil s ...

(1990),

Periyar University Periyar University is a university in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1997. It is named after social reformer Thanthai Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The University Grants Commissions, New Delhi bestow ...

(1997), Dr. Ambedkar Law University (1996) and

Thiruvalluvar University Thiruvalluvar University is a public state university in the city of Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established by the Government of Tamil Nadu, under the Thiruvalluvar University Act, 2002 (Tamil Nadu Act 32 of 2002). The university was na ...

(2002). 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. Later the research and teaching functions of the university were encouraged by the

Sadler Commission Sadler may refer to: * Sadler (surname), people with the surname ''Sadler'' * James Sadler and Sons Ltd English pottery manufacturer * Sadler, Kentucky, United States; an unincorporated community * Sadler, Texas, United States; a city * Sadler repo ...

and the gains of the university were consolidated by the enactment of the Madras University Act of 1923. About this time, the territorial ambit of the Madras University encompassed from

Berhampur Brahmapur (; also known as Berhampur) is a city on the eastern coastline of Ganjam district of the Indian state of Odisha. Bramhapur is most famous for its street food, silk sarees or pato sarees, temples and many historical places. Bramhapur al ...

of Odisha in the North East,

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

of Kerala in the South West,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

and

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

of Karnataka in the West and

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

of Andhra Pradesh in the North. Between 1926 and 1939, the university published the comprehensive ''

Tamil Lexicon ''Tamil Lexicon'' (Tamil: தமிழ்ப் பேரகராதி ''Tamiḻ Pērakarāti'') is a twelve-volume dictionary of the Tamil language. Published by the University of Madras, it is said to be the most comprehensive dictionary of ...

'' dictionary, which is the first among the dictionaries published in any Indian language.

Coat of arms

University of Madras Entrance Arch at Chepauk Campus

The description of the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the university, designed in 1857, is:

"Argent ''(silver or white)'' on a Mount issuant from the basement a Tiger passant proper ''(walking and coloured naturally)'', on a Chief Sable ''(black across the top)'', a Pale Or ''(a gold or yellow vertical strip down the centre 1/3 of the top or chief)'', thereon, between two Elephants heads couped of the field, a lotus flower leaved and slipped of the third, together with this motto ''Doctrina Vim Promovet Insitam''".

The coat of arms colours are: the base is light green, the tiger is yellow on a white background, the elephant is grey on a black background, the lotus is a white flower with olive green leaves, on a gold background. 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:

, Chetpet and

. 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 at the Marina campus. The Guindy campus incorporates the natural sciences departments while the campus at Taramani houses the school of basic medical sciences. The sports union and the botanical garden are based on Chetpet and Maduravoyal campuses respectively. The Department of Mathematics of the university is operated as the

Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (RIASM) is the Department of Mathematics of University of Madras. This name was adopted in 1967. History The University of Madras was incorporated in 1857 and the Department of Mathematic ...

located close to the Chepauk campus. The university has two

constituent college A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...

, in

Nemmeli Nemmeli is an agricultural village in Madukkur Panchayat Union, Pattukkottai taluk of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India, also known as 28.Nemmeli. Nemmeli village is division of Musugundha Nadu in Chola nadu. It comes under Pattukottai legi ...

and

Thiruvottiyur Tiruvottriyur (Thiruvottiyur or TVT) is a neighbourhood in North Chennai, administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation. It is part of the Tondiarpet division, located to the north of Chennai. It is one of the fifteen administrative zones in ...

, offerings courses in arts and science. Since 1981, the university has also developed an Institute of Distance Education, offering various academic and professional programmes approved by University Grants Commission under the choice-based credit system (CBCS) pattern.

Senate House

The University of Madras has a historical monument – Senate House – which is one of the landmarks of the city of Chennai. Srinivasachari, p 341 The Senate House, the university's first building, inaugurated in the year 1879, is a masterpiece of

Robert Fellowes Chisholm Robert Fellowes Chisholm (11 January 1840 – 28 May 1915) was a British architect who pioneered the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture in Madras. Early life Chisholm was born in London on 11 January 1840 (or on 3 November 1838, according ...

, an architect of the 19th century, who blended the Indo-Saracenic style with Byzantine and European architectural features. Srinivasachari, Introduction, p xxxi 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 The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of state of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the state appointed by t ...

is the chancellor of the university. The vice-chancellor is the executive head of the university. The registrar of the university, who is the secretary of the Syndicate, is the custodian of all the records and chief administrator of the university. The examinations of the university is managed by Office of the Controller of Examinations.

Schools and departments

University of Madras is organized into eighteen main schools, each of which comprises multiple departments and centres as below:

Affiliated colleges and research institutions

The university currently has 121 affiliated colleges, with 3 approved institutions, 5 institutions for diploma and certificate courses, 15 stand alone institutions for professional education, and 53 approved research Institutions as of 2019.

Notable colleges

* Loyola College * Presidency College * Madras Christian College *

Stella Maris College Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy *Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain Characters *Stella (given name), including a list of characters with th ...

* Women's Christian College * Ethiraj College * Queen Mary's College * The New College *

Madras School of Social Work Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) is an autonomous college located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1952. It is affiliated to the University of Madras and offers various under-graduate and graduate courses in social sciences ...

* Madras Sanskrit College * AM Jain College *

Guru Nanak College *Guru Nanak College (GTB nagar) Mumbai, college in gtb nagar of Mumbai *Guru Nanak College Ground, a cricket ground in Velachery, Chennai. * Guru Nanak College, Chennai, a college in Velachery, Chennai, India. * Guru Nanak College, Budhlada, a colle ...

* Vaishnav College *

Pachaiyappa's College Pachaiyappa's College is one of the oldest educational institutions in Chennai, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In addition, it is the first sole Indian college in Madras Presidency. History Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai is the resul ...

* SHASUN College * Vaishnav College for Women * Vivekananda College * JBAS College for Women

Research institutions

Adyar Cancer Institute The Cancer Institute (WIA - Womens' Indian Association), also known as the Adyar Cancer Institute, is a non-profit cancer treatment and research centre based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Cancer Institute (WIA) was established in the year 1952 u ...

Central Leather Research Institute Central Leather Research Institute or CLRI is the world's largest leather research institute in terms of research papers and patents. The institute located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu was founded on 24 April 1948 as a constituent laboratory under the ...

Central Institute of Brackish Water Aquaculture Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) is one of the research institutes under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi to serve as the nodal agency for catering to the needs of the brackishwater aquaculture rese ...

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , pres ...

International Institute of Tamil Studies The International Institute of Tamil Studies (IITS) is a linguistic research institution based in Chennai, India. It was established with a view to promoting the cause of Tamil language. History The International Institute of Tamil Studies was ...

Institute for Financial Management and Research IFMR - Graduate School of Business at Krea University is a private business school located at Sri City, in Andhra Pradesh, India, about 70 km from Chennai. IFMR offered a 2-year PGDM program which is accredited by AICTE till 2016. Currentl ...

King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research is a medicine research institute located in Guindy, Chennai, India. It was established on 7 November 1899 with the aim of protecting against scourging infections and was named after Lt. Col. W. ...

Loyola Institute of Business Administration Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) is a private business school in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, was founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1979. It is situated on the Loyola College, Chennai, campus and run by the Loyola ...

Madras Institute of Development Studies The Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) is a research institute based in Chennai. It is a joint undertaking of the Governments of India and Tamil Nadu for conducting research on development problems in Tamil Nadu and the rest of Ind ...

Madras School of Economics Madras School of Economics is an institution of higher education in economics, located in Chennai, India. Madras School of Economics was founded in 1993 as a post-graduate institution for teaching and research in economics. MSE offers ...

* Madras Diabetes Research Foundation *

MS Swaminathan Research Foundation The M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) is a nonprofit NGO trust based in Chennai, India. It develops and promotes strategies for economic growth that directly target increased employment of poor women in rural areas. Their methods maxi ...

* National Defence College *

National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis The National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) is a tuberculosis research organization located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. NIRT carries out research on clinical, bacteriological as well as behavioural and epidemiological aspects of tuber ...

Zoological Survey of India The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), founded on 1 July 1916 by Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies to promote the survey, exploration and r ...

* National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research * National Institute of Epidemiology

Academics

Rankings and reputation

Internationally, Madras University is ranked 541-550 overall and 48th global research institution in the

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

for the year 2023. In India, the

National Institutional Ranking Framework The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a methodology adopted by the Ministry of Education (India), Ministry of Education, Government of India, to rank institutions of higher education in India. The Framework was approved by the ...

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. The main university library located at Chepauk was started in 1907 in the

Connemara Public Library * The Connemara Public Library at Egmore in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is one of the four National Depository Libraries which receive a copy of all books, newspapers and periodicals published in India. Established in 1896, the library is a re ...

, later shifted to the existing building in 1936.

S. R. Ranganathan Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan ( 9 August 1892 – 27 September 1972) was a librarian and mathematician from India. His most notable contributions to the field were his five laws of library science and the development of the first major fa ...

(a mathematician) was appointed as the first librarian of the university, whose contribution in the development of the field of

library sciences Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, an ...

is noteworthy. The library collection includes textbooks, reference books, journals, theses, archives of government gazettes, newsprints, magazines, photographs, rare manuscripts, with a total collection of approximately 1 million volumes, which is among the largest collection of a university library in India. The library system also maintains a database of e-books, digital multimedia resources and subscribed to over four thousand e-journals under the UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium. The

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

oriental manuscripts library and research centre is located within the main library building at Chepauk. The library is considered as the treasure house for ancient Indian knowledge. Comprises over 25,373 reference books and 72,714 Sanskrit and Tamil manuscripts written on palm leaf, copper plates, tree barks, leather etc. on subjects, like mathematics, astronomy, ayurveda, architecture, fine arts, grammar and literature. The Library of the

Indian Mathematical Society Indian Mathematical Society (IMS) is the oldest organization in India devoted to the promotion of study and research in mathematics. The Society was founded in April 1907 by V. Ramaswami Aiyar with its headquarters at Pune. The Society started ...

, started in 1907 in Pune, is now housed in the campus of the

Research

In 2007, the university was given a special grant of by the

Ministry of Human Resource Development The Ministry of Education ( MoE; formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1985 to 2020) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The Ministry is further d ...

to establish a nanotechnology research centre in commemoration of its sesqui-centenary (150th year) celebration. In 2011, University Grants Commission (UGC) selected the university for its third phase of ''University with Potential for Excellence (UPE)'' scheme, under which were sanctioned for a period of five years. Earlier, the university was selected for the inaugural phase of the scheme in 2001-02 along with JNU, Hyderabad University,

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...

and

Pune University Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

. The ''National Centre for Ultrafast Process (NCUFP)'' of the university has mobilized research grants to the tune through several funded projects including the

DST Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

, CSIR,

DRDO The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

and UGC. The Department of Crystallography and Biophysics was upgraded as a ''Centre of Advanced Study (CAS)'' in 2007 and a grant of was given for modernising research laboratories. The ''School of Life Sciences'' of the university received a grant of by the

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It ...

, under BUILDER (Boost to University of Interdisciplinary Life Science Departments for Education and Research) for strengthening teaching and research programmes during 2014–2019. A study performed by the NISTADS on the research performance of universities in India during 1998–2008 ranked Madras University at No. 5 based on publication for that period. In addition, UGC has identified the Department of Geology and Department of Zoology as the ''Centres of Excellence'' and has allotted each for their development. In 2019,

of Government of India granted to the university for upgrading its research capabilities under

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) (Hindi for "National Higher Education Mission") is a holistic scheme of development for higher education in India initiated in 2013 by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The centrally spons ...

(RUSA) scheme.

Notable alumni

The University of Madras has a strong alumni network, with its alumni taking over many prestigious positions across the world. Some of the prominent alumni include Nobel laureates

C. V. Raman Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (; 7 November 188821 November 1970) was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering. Using a spectrograph that he developed, he and his student K. S. Krishnan discovered that when ...

and

S. Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; ) (19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian-American theoretical physicist who spent his professional life in the United States. He shared the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler for "... ...

, mathematicians

K. S. Chandrasekharan Komaravolu Chandrasekharan (21 November 1920 – 13 April 2017) was a professor at ETH Zurich and a founding faculty member of School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). He is known for his work in number theory an ...

, and

, leading scientists,

Raja Ramanna Raja Ramanna (28 January 1925 – 24 September 2004) was an Indian physicist who is best known for his role in India's nuclear program during its early stages. Having joined the nuclear program in 1964, Ramanna worked under Homi Jehan ...

Rajagopala Chidambaram Rajagopala Chidambaram (born 11 November 1936) is an Indian Physicist who is known for his integral role in India's nuclear weapons program; he coordinated test preparation for the Pokhran-I (1975) and Pokhran-II (1998). Previously served ...

, M. Visvesvaraya,

E. C. George Sudarshan Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan (also known as E. C. G. Sudarshan; 16 September 1931 – 13 May 2018) was an Indian American theoretical physicist and a professor at the University of Texas. Sudarshan has been credited with numerous contrib ...

, G. N. Ramachandran,

V. S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...

and

Alladi Ramakrishnan Alladi Ramakrishnan (9 August 1923 – 7 June 2008) was an Indian physicist and the founder of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Matscience) in Chennai. He made contributions to stochastic process, particle physics, algebra of matrices, ...

Former presidents

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

V. V. Giri Varahagiri Venkata Giri (; 10 August 1894 — 24 June 1980) was an Indian politician and activist from Berhampur in Odisha who served as the 4th president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. He also 3rd vice president of India from ...

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (; 19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the independence ...

R. Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009) was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in Ta ...

and

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

, politicians

Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

, C Subramaniam, CN Annadurai, and

V. K. Krishna Menon Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (3 May 1896 – 6 October 1974) was an Indian academic, politician, and non-career diplomat. He was described by some as the second most powerful man in India, after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawa ...

, civil servants

T. N. Seshan Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan (15 December 1932 – 10 November 2019) was an Indian civil servant and bureaucrat who served with the Indian Administrative Service. After serving in various positions in Madras and in various ministries of the ...

Benegal Rama Rau Sir Benegal Rama Rau CIE, ICS (1 July 1889 – 13 December 1969) was the fourth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1949 to 14 January 1957. Early life and family He was born in a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin fa ...

Y. Venugopal Reddy Yaga Venugopal Reddy (born 17 August 1941) is an Indian economist and a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1964 batch belonging to Andhra Pradesh cadre. Reddy served as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's ...

and

C. Sylendra Babu C. Sylendra Babu (born 5 June 1962) is an Indian Police Service Officer who served as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu Police. Early life and education Sylendra Babu was born in the town of Kuzhithurai, Kan ...

Rhodes scholars

Eric Prabhakar Eric Prabhakar (23 February 1925 – 10 September 2011) was an Indian sprinter. He competed in the men's 100 metres event at the 1948 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals. He was also a Rhodes Scholar and he subsequently worked for ...

and Tanjore R. Anantharaman, pioneers

Verghese Kurien Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 - 9 September 2012), known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India, was a social entrepreneur whose "billion-litre idea", Operation Flood, made dairy farming India's largest self-sustaining industry a ...

and

M. S. Swaminathan Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (born 7 August 1925) is an Indian agronomist, agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, administrator and humanitarian. Swaminathan is a global leader of the green revolution. He has been called the main archi ...

, economist

K. N. Raj Kakkadan Nandanath Rajan (13 May 1924 – 10 February 2010) was an Indian economist. He is popularly known as K. N. Raj. He played an important role in India's planned development, drafting sections of India's first Five Year Plan, specifically ...

and

C. Rangarajan Chakravarthi Rangarajan (born 1932) is an Indian economist, a former Member of Parliament and 19th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He is the former Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, he resigned the day the UPA ...

, business persons

Indra Nooyi Indra Nooyi (née Krishnamurthy; born October 28, 1955) is an Indian-American business executive and former chief executive officer and chairperson of PepsiCo. She has consistently ranked among the world's 100 most powerful women. In 2014, sh ...

Ram Shriram Kavitark Ram Shriram (born 1956/57) is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is a founding board member and one of the first investors in Google. He was earlier employed by Amazon, working for Jeff Bezos. Shriram cam ...

and

Prathap C. Reddy Prathap Chandra Reddy (born 5 February 1933) is an Indian entrepreneur and cardiologist who founded the first corporate chain of hospitals in India, the Apollo Hospitals. ''India Today'' ranked him 48th in its 2017 list of India's 50 most pow ...

, artists and film personality

M.G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

, K. C. S. Paniker,

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six ...

and

Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Awar ...

, sports stars

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

Vijay Amritraj Vijay Amritraj (born 14 December 1953) is an Indian sports commentator, actor and retired professional tennis player from Madras. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian honour, in 1983.In 2022, he was honored for his cont ...

Ramanathan Krishnan Ramanathan Krishnan (born 11 April 1937) is a retired tennis player from India who was among the world's leading players in the 1950s and 1960s. He was twice a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961, reaching as high as World No. 3 in Potte ...

and Srinivas 'Venkat' among others. File:Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari.jpg, Last governor-general of India,

C. Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

File:Photograph of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan presented to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962.jpg, 2nd president of India,

File:VV Giri 1974 stamp of India (cropped).jpg, 4th president of India, V.V. Giri File:Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.jpg, 6th president of India,

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (; 19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the independence ...

File:President Shri R Venkataraman (narendramodiofficial Flickr).jpg, 8th president of India, R Venkataraman File:A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in 2008.jpg, 11th president of India,

File:General K. M. Cariappa.jpg, 1st Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa File:Justice M. Patanjali Sastri.jpg, 2nd chief justice of India, M. Patanjali Sastri File:Vishveshvarayya in his 30's.jpg, 19th Diwan of Mysore and Civil Engineer, Sir. M. Visvesvaraya File:Sir CV Raman.JPG, Physics Nobel laureate,

Sir C. V. Raman Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (; 7 November 188821 November 1970) was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering. Using a spectrograph that he developed, he and his student K. S. Krishnan discovered that when ...

File:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.gif, Physics Nobel laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar File:Srinivasa Ramanujan - OPC - 1.jpg, Mathematician,

File:Srinivasa Varadhan Heidelberg.JPG, Mathematician, Abel Prize Winner,

File:ECG_Sudarshan.jpg, Theoretical Physicist,

File:Rajagopala Chidambaram.jpg, Nuclear Physicist,

File:Photo of Prof Raj Reddy taken in Hyderabad.jpg, Computer scientist, Turing Awardee,

File:Vilayanur S Ramachandran 2011 Shankbone.JPG, Cognitive neuroscientist,

File:IndraNooyiDavos2010ver2.jpg, PepsiCo Chairperson,

File:Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan - Kolkata 2013-01-07 2674.JPG, Father of Green revolution,

File:Palaniappan Chidambaram - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011.jpg, Former Union

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...

File:VishyAnand09.jpg, Chess grandmaster,

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madras, University Of History of Chennai Education in Chennai Educational institutions established in 1857 Universities in Chennai 1857 establishments in British India