Anna University signs MoU with Autodesk to set up design and innovation lab

Anna University partners with Autodesk to establish a Design and Innovation Lab, offering training programs for students and faculty.

Anna University on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Autodesk, a multinational technology and design company, to set up a Design and Innovation Lab at the Centre for University-Industry Collaboration (CUIC) on the University campus in Chennai.

With the establishment of the lab, over 30,000 students from Mechanical, Civil, Architecture, EEE, and Media Sciences will be able to use the educational version of Autodesk’s technology products. Besides, at least 10,000 students from polytechnics and ITIs will be trained in futuristic technologies every year free of cost. In addition, about 400 faculty members will be trained every year as trainers for skilling, upskilling and reskilling.

The company has made a ₹1.28-crore donation to the University to conduct year-long training programmes at the lab, said CUIC Director K. Shanmugasundaram. The MoU was signed by J. Prakash, Registrar, Anna University, and Conway Goh, Director-Asia Pacific and Japan, Autodesk Education Experiences, in the presence of Govi. Chezhiaan, Minister for Higher Education.

Mr. Goh said recent figures in the company’s State of Design and Make Report showed that talent crunch impacted business growth and industry leaders were struggling to find employees with the right technical skills while also lacking resources to build effective internal training programmes. The widening skill gap, he said, was forcing the leaders to rethink workforce strategies. At the Design and Innovation lab, students would be able to experiment on Autodesk platform solutions and have access to one of the most sophisticated AI technologies: Generative Design.

At the same event, the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) launched a QR-based feedback mechanism for students in government colleges and universities. The QR code will be made available at all campuses of government institutions and students would be encouraged to raise complaints or offer feedback over amenities like drinking water, sanitation and canteen. The feedback will be registered on a dashboard that would be managed by respective institutions with oversight from the Higher Education department.

Mr. Chezhiaan also released a draft policy on e-governance for higher education institutions in the State brought out by TANSCHE. M.P. Vijayakumar, vice-chairman, TANSCHE, said that the Council was in the process of bringing out a set of policies on 12 different areas, including recruitment, research, affiliation, university-industry collaboration, outcome-based education, skill-based education, and internet usage. These would first be released as draft policies and suggestions would be invited from all stakeholders. The final shape of these documents would be that of model policies, adherence to which would enable institutions certain privileges, like grants.

J. Innocent Divya, Commissioner, Directorate of Technical Education, and E. Sundaravalli, Commissioner, Directorate of Collegiate Education, were present.