Andhra University


Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926.

History

Andhra University was established in 1926 by the Madras University Act to serve the entire linguistic region of Andhra as a residential teaching-cum-affiliating university. The institution has Sir C.R. Reddy as its founder Vice-Chancellor and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as the second Vice-Chancellor. Mir Osman Ali Khan, The Seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, donated lakh for the university.

University emblem

The university emblem was designed by Sri Kowta Rammohan Sastri with the guidance of Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy. The rising sun represents the university itself and the radiating light rays representing its faculties of study. The lotus is the seat of Goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati. The swastika is the symbol of benediction. An ocean is the vast region of knowledge. The two serpents represent the seekers and custodians of wisdom.

Campus

The university is a campus dotted with 121 buildings for academic, administrative, and support services, with a plinth area of about, and 324 staff quarters. The total area of the Visakhapatnam main campus is 422 acres. It serves the educational needs of five districts of Andhra Pradesh, namely Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. Located on the uplands of Visakhapatnam, 'The City of Destiny', the university campus is scenic, with the Bay of Bengal on one side of it and on the other, the green Kailasagiri hill range.

Infrastructure

The university contains two sections, the south campus and north campus. The south campus houses the Arts, Humanities and Sciences departments along with the administrative block. The north campus comprises the Engineering College.
The university has four constituent colleges. The College of Arts and Commerce is the biggest constituent college with 28 departments offering 55 courses. The College of Science and Technology has 19 departments, which offers 44 courses. The College of Engineering has 16 departments involving in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The College of Law has been identified as an advanced centre in law by University Grants Commission.
The university has a school of distance education with 32 study centres across the state and a study centre at New Delhi.
The campus has 19 hostels for men and four hostels for women, that accommodate 4,300 students. There is residential accommodation of 340 units of staff quarters. The university has three health centres, a homoeopathy dispensary, three guest houses, a faculty club, an open-air theatre and a campus school for the children of university school.

Faculties and departments

The College of Engineering offers 80 courses in 15 departments. Courses include Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electronics & Communications, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Remote Sensing, Marine Engineering, Naval Architecture, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering.
The College of Law offers LL.B. 3 years, LL.B. 5 years, LL.M. and PhD programmes.

Courses offered

Courses include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Geology, and Geography. The university teaches applied sciences like Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Human Genetics, Environmental Sciences, Geophysics, Geo-Engineering, Remote Sensing, Nuclear Physics, Meteorology, Oceanography, Nuclear Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry and Bioinorganic Chemistry.
Other courses are Plant Cytogenetics, Parasitology, Marine Fisheries, Entomology, Hydrology, Human Genetics, Ionosphere Studies, Petroleum Exploration Studies, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanoscience, Foods and drugs, and water.
The university offers courses in Business Management, Quantitative Economics, Criminal Justice, Meteorology & Oceanography, Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Chemistry, Parapsychology, Genetics, Gemology, GeoEngineering, Petroleum Exploration, Marine Engineering, Naval Architecture, Retail Management, Statistics and Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering.

Rankings

Andhra University was ranked 1001+ in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2020 and 351-400 in Asia. The QS World University Rankings of 2020 ranked it 351-400 in Asia. It was ranked 36th in India overall by the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2020 and 19th among universities. NIRF also ranked the Andhra University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences 34th in India in the pharmacy ranking.

Faculties

Faculty members have PhD degrees acquired from institutes in India and abroad. The faculty strength is 500.
Broadband internet facility is available. There is a fingerprint attendance system.

Campuses outside the university

The university has established campuses outside Visakhapatnam to meet the demand for post-graduate education. Campuses are located in Etcherla, Srikakulam district, Kakinada, East Godavari district, Tadepalligudem, West Godavari district and Vizianagaram. An earlier campus at Guntur City, established in 1967, became Acharya Nagarjuna University in 1976. Adikavi Nannaya University was formed in 2006 taken the affiliated colleges from East and West Godavari districts. In 2008, Etcherla PG Campus became Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Srikakulam and took control over all affiliated colleges in Srikakulam.

Affiliations

There are 575 affiliated colleges spread across five districts under the territorial jurisdiction of Andhra University. The enrollment in undergraduate courses is more than 77,000 and in postgraduate courses more than 20,000 students. The university is supported by 860 teachers and 2500 non-teaching and technical staff.

Kala Prapoorna

The honorary doctorate degree of 'Kala Prapoorna' may be given in the Faculties of Engineering and Kala Prapoorna in the Faculty of Agriculture, 'Kala Prapoorna',,, or in the Faculty of Fine Arts and 'Kala Prapoorna' in the Faculty of 'Oriental Learning'.

Notable alumni