Government of India founded the Central University of Tamil Nadu, along with eight other Central Universities, through an Act of Parliament in 2009. It is part of the greater role that the Central Government assumed in making higher education accessible to aspirants from the weaker sections of the society. With eight students in M.A. English Studies, the university started functioning from November 2009, at the Collectorate Annexe at Thiruvarur, 60 kilometres to the east of Thanjavur. But today the University sits astride a major tributary of the famous Cauvery river in the heart of the Delta seven kilometres to the north-west of Thiruvarur. n the quiet, rural environs this unitary, residential university bubbles with academic activity—research, teaching and evaluation with untrammeled autonomy in the form of schools which constantly experiment in curricula, syllabus, teaching, learning, testing and evaluation methods. The students and the faculty reside together in the campuses which makes teaching and learning continue beyond the class work and the classroom. Today, the University has over 2133 students on its rolls.The University offers Integrated M.Sc., postgraduate and doctoral programmes. The departments of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry offer I,M.Sc. programmes. Postgraduate programmes are available in the departments of English Studies, Tamil, Media and Communication, Social Work. At the moment, Economics and Social Work programmes are run in collaboration with mentoring institutions, namely, Madras School of Economics and Tata Institute of Fundamental Sciences. Most of the departments have commenced doctoral programmes too. The Community College of the University offers Water Management, Para Legal Course. For these the University has signed M.O.Us with the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, and National Law School University of India, Bengaluru.