Visakhapatnam: If everything goes as per the plan, Andhra University, which played a vital role in shaping the educational sector in Andhra Pradesh, would soon be accorded the ‘Special Heritage Status’ tag by the University Grants Commission.
Andhra University officials are busy drafting the proposals to apply for the scheme of “Granting Special Heritage Status to Universities and Colleges.”
The idea of according heritage status to universities and colleges aged 100 years was first mooted by the Union government in 2013. AU officials are expecting a total grant of Rs 200 crore, once the heritage tag is achieved.
The grant components of ‘heritage status’ include conservation and maintenance of repositories of intellectual heritage resources – including library, herbarium, museum, heritage structures of the varsity, scientific instruments of yesteryears and gallery of institutional history and heritage, among others.
AU, which started with four departments, seven faculty members and a handful of students in 1926, now boasts of 2 lakh students with 240 courses and 12,000 students on the campus itself. Having stood the test of time, the university completed its 90 years of existence.
Varsity officials said that they have glitzy plans up their sleeves for observing the next 10 years as centenary years before the university completing its 100 years.
