MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers’ Association (TNGCTA) has today strongly condemned the permission granted by the present TVK Government in the State to establish a foreign university at Velachery in Chennai.
“Permission has been granted to establish University of Western Australia (UWA) as the first foreign foreign university in Tamil Nadu at Velachery in Chennai. The university’s website says that UGC had granted its final approval on October 5th and the Government of Tamil Nadu has also given its approval. All those who are committed to TN’s tradition of social justice should raise their voice against the setting up of foreign universities in Tamil Nadu,” Mr.S.Suresh, general secretary, TNGCTA, has appealed in a press statement issued from Chennai today.
Expressing concern that the State government is now moving at full speed towards commercialisation of higher education, he informed the people about the tuition fees of University of Western Australia for its UG programmes.
“The first year tuition fees for business management is Rs.14.52 lakhs, the fees for Data Science is Rs.14.52 lakhs, for AI course the fees is Rs.17.93 lakhs for first year UG course and for MBA it is Rs.23.10 lakhs. If this is the fees, we say that the higher education policy of Tamil Nadu government is against the principles of social justice,” Mr.S.Suresh has said in his press release on October 6th 2026 and he pointed out the plight of State government universities in Tamil Nadu.
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The TNGCTA press statement has said that Tamil Nadu will become the fourth State in India to have a foreign university established in the State, after Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
“On September 8th 2026, the Government of Tamil Nadu had amended the TN Private Universities Act thereby creating greater opportunities for establishment of private universities. So, it has now started moving at full speed while more than half of the total 21 State universities in Tamil Nadu do not have sufficient permanent faculty, and who will take care of the economically disadvantaged students?,” the TNGCTA has questioned today.
At the University of Madras, only 180 of the sanctioned 515 teaching posts are currently filled while in Madurai Kamaraj University only 202 of the sanctioned 405 teaching posts are filled presently and at Bharathidasan University only 119 of the total sanctioned 230 teaching posts are filled.
“Higher education quality has become a matter of serious concern in TN because faculty appointments have not been made adequately in government universities and government colleges. At this juncture, the present TN State government is rolling out a red carpet welcome for a foreign university to set up its campus at Velachery in Chennai. The people must raise their voice for social justice to save our disadvantaged students from economically poor background who are dependent on government universities and government colleges,” Mr.S.Suresh, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers’ Association (TNGCTA), has said in a press release today-October 6th 2026.
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