Higher Education Commission, in its proposed form, would centralize the functioning of universities and jeopardize the lives of thousands of...

DMK leader M.K. Stalin appealed directly to the Government of India to immediately abandon its controversial draft proposal to establish the Higher Education Commission of India to replace the University Grants Commission. Stalin warned that the proposed regulatory restructuring would aggressively centralize the academic and financial administration of universities, dismantling state autonomy and jeopardizing the academic careers of thousands of doctoral researchers and postgraduate students across the nation.

Stalin highlighted that stripping universities of financial grant allocation powers and concentrating regulatory control within a central bureaucratic body undermines regional institutional diversity. State universities, which cater extensively to rural, underprivileged, and first-generation learners, require augmented financial funding and operational freedom rather than heavy-handed central oversight. He pointed out that diminishing student fellowships and centralizing research approvals would severely constrain research excellence and academic freedom in regional higher educational institutions.

Stalin urged central policymakers to reconsider their centralizing trajectory and prioritize strengthening existing state university infrastructures instead. He affirmed that the DMK remains committed to defending educational federalism, ensuring that higher learning remains accessible, inclusive, and democratically governed across all Indian states.