Tamil Virtual University

The Tamil Virtual University is a community of scholars who meet in cyberspace:

• Global meeting place for promoting Tamil as an international language
• State-of-the-art technology to connect to the global Tamil community via the Information Highway

The Virtual University will have a virtual campus which, when completed, will include:

• A digital library
• A virtual student union
• Counseling services
• Student associations
• Faculty Round Tables
• Coordinating Faculty House
• Support Centre

• To help Tamil communities living abroad to establish a digital network to promote the study of Tamil language and literature
• To establish a grid of learning so that Tamil communities worldwide may exchange Web-based resources
• To develop and promote Tamil in electronic form to enable Tamil learners to experience the glory of Tamil language and culture
• To promote a sense of Tamil identity both in nations having large Tamil populations (i.e. India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and in other nations where Tamils live in small communities (e.g. UK, Canada, USA, Mauritius)

• To deliver online learning to geographically separate Tamil communities;
• To deliver customized programmes for the promotion of Tamil language and culture;
• To develop educational courses to address the needs of Tamils living abroad; and
• To facilitate easy access to other online resources already developed by the international Tamil communities

• Browser-based Web environment for easy navigation;
• Accessible 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world;
• Students can work individually at their own pace;

• Interactive environment where students can discuss among themselves and with the instructor as well as collaborate on team tasks and assignments;
• Tamil and English-based search engines for easy search & retrieval of resources;
• Computerized conferences for class discussions;
• Virtual conferences for campus-wide technical support;
• Online help and documentation;
• Electronic homework and term paper submissions;
• Extensive use of electronic mail;
• Online catalogs, reference materials and software;
• Group document editing capability for collaborative writing assignments;
• Management tools for faculty;
• Interactive technology allows students to progress at their own pace;
• Profile databases of information about students and faculty

Virtual Centers to operate around the world:

The Tamil Virtual University will involve public and private sector partnerships including:

Tamil language courses designed to meet the needs of expatriate communities will feature:

• Tamil Character Tutors
• Tamil Pronunciation Guides
• Guide to Tamil Websites
• Entertaining formats for easy learning
• Tamil Keyboard Tutors
• Online Tamil Dictionaries
• Tamil language radio programmes
• Web radio programmes on demand
• Interactive reading exercises

The High-Level Committee of the Tamil Virtual University consists of:

• Dr. VC Kulandaiswamy Chairman
• Dr. CK Mahadevan Vice-Chairman
• Dr. V. Nagrajan Member
• Dr. Pon Kothandaraman Member

In its meeting of Monday 14 June 1999 in Chennai, the High-Level Committee appointed the following Sub-committees:

The Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai, is placing its extensive resources and expertise at the disposal of the Tamil Virtual University. Its contributions include:

• Technical and administrative support;
• 45,000 pages of digitized Tamil literature from Cankam to modern period;
• Identification and digitalization of further Tamil texts for the master database;
• Web site design and content

• Dr. VC Kulandaiswamy, Chairman, High-Level Committee
• Tiru RM Vasagam Chairman, Technical Sub-Committee
• Dr. G. John Samuel, Member, Digital Library Sub-Committee