The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has urged the Central Government to establish the world-class university in Coimbatore, as promised by the then UPA dispensation.
In a release, party’s State Youth Wing secretary V. Eswaran said the scheme announced by the BJP government to spend ₹10,000 crore over five years on 20 universities to turn them into world-class institutions would not bring about the desired change.
For, 50 % of the money would go to 10 private universities and with little accountability it would result in the institutions swindling the money. This would leave only 10 State-run universities with ₹500 crore over five years.
The money would not bring about an infrastructural change in the institutions and they would find it difficult to compete with world-class institutions.
This scheme had the potential to derail the world-class university proposed to be set up in Coimbatore in 2008.
The then UPA government had proposed to spend ₹52,000 crore on 14 world-class universities, each of which would come up on a 500-acre campus.
The BJP government should therefore revert to the old scheme of things and expedite the process to set up a world-class institution in Coimbatore.
