Anna University is accredited by UGC is a technical university. It was established by C N Annadurai, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1978. AU became an affiliating university in 2001, engrossing all engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. It was split into six constituent universities in 2007, namely Chennai (Campus), Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli. The constituents were merged back to a single affiliating university for engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu in 2011. The university offers various UG and PG courses in Engineering, Technology and allied Sciences.
The university main campus extends over 100 hectares abutting the Adyar River and Raj Bhavan, which is located in north and south. The university is accredited by UGC with five stars in 2002. The university was able to receive this honour for a period of five years for excellence in Technical Education.