Veteran educationist P S Manisundaram, who fine-tuned engineering syllabus in South India, died at Trichy last week.
He was 87 and is survived by wife and six children.
Manisundaram was born in Burma (now Myanmar) and qualified as a civil engineer from the Nova Scotia University Canada in 1958. He began as a lecturer at the Alagappa University in Karaikudi town in Sivaganga district where he became the youngest principal at the age of 33.
In 1963, he joined the Regional Engineering College (REC) when it was set up in Trichy and soon became its principal, a post he held for 18 years. He also became the vice-chancellor of the Bharathidasan University in Trichy set up in 1982.
During his tenure he updated the syllabus, improved teaching standards and set a record for entering the maximum number of students to write GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and TOEFL ( Test of English and Foreign Languages) that got them careers abroad.
In 1984, he set up the Bharathidasan Institute of Management that is today a benchmark in business studies.

source: http://www.gulf-times.com / Gulf Times / Home> International> India> Tamil Nadu Round Up / by Umaima Shafiq / November 03rd, 2013