TN Private Universities bill will aid profiteering: Activists

CHENNAI: A day after the Assembly passed a bill to amend the Private Universities Act, academicians and educationists have criticised it as a move that will not only affect the service conditions of both the teaching and non-teaching staff. They warned that it would also result in a manifold increase in fees collected from students.

State Platform for Common School System-Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN) general secretary PB Prince Gajendra Babu claimed that allowing the conversion of aided colleges to Universities through the Act aids the establishment of type three higher education institutes in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP), which the DMK government claims to oppose.

He appealed to the State government not to rush through any legislation to amend the Private College Regulation Act or any other legislative measure that could pave the way for the conversion of existing private colleges, more particularly the aided colleges, into universities.

Opposing the act, the Association of University Teachers (AUT), Tamil Nadu, said the move would inevitably shift the admission process from a merit-based to a money-based system.

K Raj, general secretary of AUT, claimed that thousands of teachers and supporting staff across the State are facing severe job insecurity due to this move. Joint Action Council of College Teachers (JAC), Tamil Nadu, secretary M Nagarajan said the proposed Act will allow private universities to set up their base in paltry 25 acres and 50 acres against the existing norm of 100 acres. This will make higher education more commercial, he added.