Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which reduces minimum land and endowment fund requirements for setting up private universities in the state, has been sent to the President of India for her assent, higher education minister P Viswanathan told reporters here.“This bill is different from the one introduced by the DMK govt. The new amendment is only for establishing new universities. We aim to establish world-class private universities in the state,” Viswanathan said after inaugurating the Study in Korea Education Fair in the city on Sunday.On the opposition by CPI, CPM and PMK to the bill, he said, “The new amendment will not lead to privatisation of higher education as it relaxes the rule exclusively for establishing new universities.”The recent amendment to the TN Private Universities Act, 2019 has reduced the land requirement to set up private universities in Chennai city from 100 acres to 12 acres. For municipal corporations and municipal councils, the minimum land requirement was 18 acres. For areas other than GCC, municipal corporations, and municipal councils, govt has decided to fix the minimum land requirement at 25 acres. It also reduced the endowment from ₹50 crore to ₹25 crore.In the education fair, 12 Korean universities such as Kangwon National University, Busan Health University participated.Hye Ran Chun, consul general of the Republic of Korea in Chennai, said the education fair will provide access to Korea’s universities, scholarships and research opportunities. About 1,000 students visited the fair and interacted with the university officials.
