After years of vehement opposition, the CPM-led LDF Government has thrown open the doors of Kerala's higher education sector to private universities. The Kerala State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, 2025, was passed in the Assembly on Tuesday.

In a departure from the norm, the legislative process took two days. The discussion on the bill was cut short on Monday for the members to participate in an Iftar party organised by Opposition Leader  V D Satheesan.

 Amendments moved by members for only 17 sections of the Bill were taken up on Monday. 

Higher education minister R Bindu, while tabling the Bill in the Kerala Assembly for consideration, made it clear that the new law did not include foreign universities. "We know that top foreign universities like Oxford and Cambridge are not going to open campuses in Kerala.

"But the UDF government had earlier tried to usher in substandard foreign universities to Kerala, as though Kerala was a dustbin for third-rate foreign universities," she said. The minister also said that the legislation would ensure social justice and allow government control over the functioning of private universities.

Two conditions have been laid down for private individuals or groups - 'sponsoring body' is the term used for them in the Act - that want to establish a university. One, the sponsoring body should constitute an 'endowment fund' of at least Rs 25 crore. Two, it should possess at least 10 acres of land as stipulated by the regulatory bodies for the University.

Engineering colleges, for instance, should follow All India Council for Technical Education guidelines. And medical colleges, that of the Indian Council of Medical Research. The sponsoring body intending to establish a University should submit an application containing the proposal and the project report to the Government along with an application fee.

The project report shall contain details like the purpose and vision of the proposed University; the necessity of its establishment; information about the sponsoring body; experience and domain expertise in the proposed disciplines; the name, place and headquarters of the proposed University; academic facilities including teaching and non-teaching employees; plans for campus development such as construction of buildings, development of structural amenities, development of infrastructure facilities and procurement of equipment for starting the University; source of finance and method of repayment; the nature and type of innovative programmes and research programmes proposed to be undertaken; facilities proposed to be introduced; and the system proposed for the selection of students and teachers.

The Government will constitute an Expert Committee to examine the application received from the sponsoring body. The Expert Committee will be chaired by an academic expert from the field of higher education, and will be nominated by the Government.

It will have as its members: A Vice-Chancellor of State Public University; a person nominated by the Kerala State Higher Education Council; representative of Kerala State Planning Board; and the collector of the district where the university is proposed to be based.

The Higher Education secretary will be the convenor. The government sanction for a private university will be based on the recommendation of the Expert Committee. There are two social justice clauses in the Act. One, the private university has to reserve 40% of seats in each course to students who are permanent residents of the State, and within this, the existing reservation system in the State will be made applicable. Two, the university has to provide concessions in fees and institute scholarships for students from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The minister made a spirited defence of what the opposition perceived as a betrayal of its earlier position on private universities. Bindu said the Shyam B Menon Committee constituted to recommend reforms in the higher education sector had placed before the government the importance of private universities in 2022 itself.

"If we had not gone ahead with the proposal, then it was only because we wanted to first strengthen our public universities," the minister said. "We are introducing this Bill now with the absolute confidence that our public universities have been adequately bolstered," the minister said.

She also said that the government would have control over the functioning of the private universities. There will be government nominees in the Governing Council, the Executive Council and the Academic Council of the private university. "The government will also reserve the power to create rules for private universities," Minister Bindu said.

The Chancellor of a private university will be chosen by the sponsoring body and should be an academician of "high repute" or "a person of eminence in any of the fields including agriculture and veterinary science, technology, medicine, social science, humanities, literature, art, culture, law, industry, commerce or public administration". The Chancellor will hold the post for five years. The VC will be appointed by the Chancellor and should possess the qualification and standards prescribed by the UGC.

The legislation also grants the State Government the power to call for any information and records related to the university's administration. The government will also have the power to de-recognise a university after conducting an inquiry.