Alagappa University, founded by the great philanthropist, (late) Dr R M Alagappa Chettiar, is located at
Karaikudi in
Sivagangai District.
This State University has 15 full-fledged departments and two constituent colleges. It is a member of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), as well as the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). Distance education courses are offered in various fields. The university follows choice based credit system and semester pattern of examination with continuous internal assessment.