Wednesday, May 11, 2010
Chennai: A five-member committee will submit its report on upgrading government and aided colleges into unitary universities to the chief minister on Wednesday, higher education minister K Ponmudy said on Tuesday.

The committee comprising eminent academics M Anandakrishnan, V C Kulandaisamy, state planning commission deputy chairman M Naganathan and member Jagadeesan and Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education member secretary S Baskaran, has finalised its report after holding deliberations with different stakeholders for nearly a year. The Joint Action Council comprising various teachers’ organisations had boycotted the committee’s meetings. In 2008, the government had proposed to upgrade the Presidency College and Queen Mary’s College (Women) in Chennai, the Government Arts Colleges in Coimbatore and Kumbakonam (Men & Women); and two aided colleges – the PSG College in Coimbatore and the Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai into unitary universities.

Following opposition that the move would lead to crass commercialisation of higher education, the government had referred the matter to a select committee of the legislative assembly. The meetings of the select committee witnessed violent protests in Coimbatore and it did not finalise its report.

Last July, the government set up a five-member committee to study the issue. Leading private institutions like Loyola College and the Association of Management of Private Colleges submitted representations to the committee supporting the move.

There were also criticisms that the committee did not elicit views from students, who constituted a key segment of stakeholders.

In this backdrop, last month the directorate of collegiate education issued a circular to government colleges based on instructions from the chief minister’s cell saying that a decision on upgrading government and aided institutions into unitary universities or dropping the idea was a policy decision to be taken by the government.