The University of Madras is a public state university in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in India. The university was incorporated by a law of the Legislative Council of India. It is a collegiate research university and has six campuses in the city, namely, Chepauk, Marina, Guindy, Taramani, Maduravoyal and Chetpet. At present, there are 73 academic departments grouped into 18 schools, covering various areas such as science, social sciences, humanities, administration and medicine along with 109 affiliated universities and 52 approved research institutions.
The National Council of Evaluation and Accreditation granted the accreditation of "five stars" to the university and the Scholarship Commission of the University granted it the status of "University with Potential of Excellence". The University of Madras is the alma mater of two Nobel Prize laureates in Physics of India, including Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, five presidents of India, including A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and several notable mathematicians including Srinivasa Ramanujan.