Commercialisation in Higher Education in Tamil Nadu

Given the commercial attraction, permission to open an engineering or a medical college was more avidly sought than, say, a license for a liquor shop in mid-1980s in southern states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka much like Maharashtra. This article examines the factors responsible, first for patronage, and later, to keep the commercialization tendencies at bay in Tamil Nadu, against the backdrop of ideological commitment of Dravidian parties for expansion of HE by its de-elitisation and ruralisation, coupled with the social justice approach of 69% reservation in admissions, fee waiver and scholarships to the socio-economically disadvantaged children. What marks out Tamil Nadu is the competitive politics, between the DMK and AIADMK, initially over patronage to commercialization of HE, checking later their capitation fee menace without forsaking the social justice agenda, for the political-electoral edge these brought to them.