Annamalai University is situated in the rural heart of Madras State, or Tamil Nad, South India. On its eastern boundry, lush green rice paddies cover the six miles between the University and the shores of the Bay of Bengal. On the west, the campus blends almost unnoticeably into the town of Chidambaram, a religious, as well as commercial and government center. Chidambaram's two famous Hindu temples dominate the landscape for miles around, visible proof of the University's ties with traditional South India.

Founded in 1930 by the wealthy merchant and Tamil culturist, Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar, the University has 3500 students (including 350 girls), and is entirely supported by the all-India University Grants Commission and the Madras State Government. One of five or six "residential universities" in India, it is organized along American lines.

The academic year here begins in June and ends in April, and is divided into three terms of three months each. As a result, short vacation periods generally prevent Annamalai students from taking interim jobs, the few that are available, as their American counterparts do. Entering students are usually one year younger than the average Harvard freshman, having had only eleven years of precollege training.

But the path to the B.A. degree is not continuous throughout four years. Students first spend one year in a "pre-university course," and proceed to three year's study for the degree only after passing a public examination. B.A. candidates take a total of twelve such public examinations in four years. Because they are all-important and because they are rigidly administered by external committees, these exams are the bane of the Indian student's life.

The Annamalai student does not vary his curriculum as much as the Harvard man. He takes five subjects per year throughout the four years, always has five hours of class per day. He attends classes regularly because attendance is taken. In the pre-university course, English the language used in the university, and a second language (usually Indian) are required, as well as two courses in the student's field of concentration and one outside.

In four years, the prospective B.A. takes a total of one course completely outside his major and one in a related field to fulfill his minor requirement. Thus, if he is a physics major, he may take one course in history and one in zoology and the remainder will usually be devoted to physics. One reason for this concentrated program may be inadequate special training in the secendary schools.

The concept or practice of "general education" is obviously not deeply-rooted here. An understanding of the essential of different disciplines, or an interdisciplinary approach is not required. This may be traced in part to the British origins of modern Indian university education. Under British rule one of the primary functions of the university was to educate asmall number of Indians for civil service;' while little thought was given to "total education." The students themselves do not seem to be very concerned with knowledge outside their major fields. The examination system is largely for this, since responsible degrees depend primarily on exams in special fields.

Course instruction at Annamalai is also quite standardized. All courses on the B.A. level are conducted in lectures. Instruction similar to Harvard's sections, tutorials or independent study are not used, though seminars have been introduced on the graduate level. Lectures frequently dictate from standard prepared notes, occossionally read from the course textbook.

In line with the pattern of Indian society, students are characteristically more passive than agressive. They take notes verbatim or in outline form, then memorize them before the exam. Effective lecturing is made more difficult by some students' inability to understand spoken English, particularly a problem in the first year. This may also be a result of inadequacies in secondary education. In Madras State, for example, Tamilian regionalism complicates the problem, where Tamil replaces English as the medium of instruction in high schools.

The content and structure of all Annamalai courses are determined by departmental committees aided by outside specialists. The committees make their decisions in keeping with the expected public examination questions. Therefore, teachers do not usually expand or experiment with course material. If they do, students are likely to ignore the additional or novel material, since they are aware that they will not be tester in it. Except in the physical sciences, where 30% of the grade is determined by class work, the student's grade on the public exam in his grade for the course.

No Hourly, No Papers

The average Annamalai student seems to study less than his Harvard counterpart. Five courses throughout the year may require a total of 3000 pages or reading notes are not usually part of the study pattern; a student may appear to read a textbook on atomic physics as if it were a novel. As at Harvard, daily homework is infrequent, except in the physical sciences and commercial courses and term papers are not assigned to B.A. students. Minor exercises that are occasionally-rejuired tend to rehash material from the lectures or reading, with less emphasis on creative thought.

Study habits at Annamalai are certainly influenced by the living conditions in the dormitories. Quiet and privacy are hard to find in the crowded accomodations and many students will be found trying to concentrate sitting on the verandas of classfoom buildings.

Failure at 40 Per Cent

Annamalai does not have an honors program similar to Harvard's. Thus, a B.A. candidate does not become so involved in special scholarship through the writing of an honors thesis. A candidate may take his degree with distinction by achieving an average of 70 per cent or better on all the public exams, a "first-class" with 60 per cent or better, "second-class" with 50 per cent or better, "third-class" with 40 per cent or better. An average of under 40 per cent means failure. This low scale does not necessarily mean lower standards. The all-India examinations are reputedly difficult and certainly very competitive.