04 · Education & Institutions
The institutions, and the idea behind them
A register of the schools, colleges and universities associated with Dr. T. R. Paarivendhar, with their documented history and two detailed case studies.
§ 1 · Educational philosophy
What the record says about purpose
Dr. Paarivendhar has not published a treatise on education in the sources consulted. The clearest statements of purpose come from the institutions he leads, and they are presented here as the institutions’ own words.
SRM’s founder profile summarises his aim as “empowerment through education”. It describes support for “meritorious students in Tamil Nadu” and full scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.[1] The same profile describes SRM as “one of India’s most multicultural large institutions offering a truly multidisciplinary learning experience to students and researchers”.[1]
The record of what was built shows three consistent features:
- Progression. Schooling came first (1969), then professional colleges (from 1985), then university status (2002).
- Breadth of disciplines. Engineering was followed by nursing, pharmacy, and arts and science.[2]
- Language and culture. The SRM Tamil Perayam recognises Tamil scholarship and the arts alongside technical education.[3]
§ 2 · Register
Register of institutions
Listed in order of establishment. Only years and locations confirmed in the cited sources are shown.
| Established | Institution | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Primary school, reported as the Nightingale school | K. K. Nagar, Chennai | Upgraded to a higher secondary school in 1981.[2] |
| 1985 | SRM Engineering College | Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu | The foundation of today’s SRM Institute of Science and Technology.[4] |
| Early 1990s | Colleges of nursing and pharmacy | Tamil Nadu | Health-science colleges added after the engineering college.[2] |
| 1993–94 | Arts and science college | Tamil Nadu | Extended the group beyond professional education.[2] |
| 2002 | SRM Institute of Science and Technology (deemed university) | Kattankulathur, with campuses in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli and Delhi-NCR | Deemed-university status in 2002; current name since 2017. Dr. Paarivendhar is Founder-Chancellor.[4] |
| 2013 | SRM University, Sikkim | Gangtok, Sikkim | State private university bearing the SRM name.[5] |
| 2013 | SRM University, Haryana | Sonepat, Haryana | State private university bearing the SRM name.[6] |
| 2017 | SRM University, AP | Neerukonda, Amaravati region, Andhra Pradesh | Established by the SRM Trust. Dr. Paarivendhar is Chancellor.[7] |
§ 3 · Institutional history
SRM Institute of Science and Technology
The central institution in the record began in 1985 as SRM Engineering College at Kattankulathur. It became a deemed university in 2002 and, in 2017, took the name SRM Institute of Science and Technology. Dr. T. R. Paarivendhar is its Founder-Chancellor.[4]
What deemed-university status means
In India, the Central Government may, on the advice of the University Grants Commission, declare an institution of higher education to be “deemed to be a university” under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956. Such an institution can set its own curricula and award its own degrees instead of depending on an affiliating university. For SRM, this marked the change from a single college to a university able to grow across campuses.
Campuses
The institution lists campuses at the following locations:[4]
- KattankulathurChennai · main campus
- RamapuramChennai
- VadapalaniChennai
- TiruchirappalliTamil Nadu
- ModinagarDelhi-NCR, Ghaziabad
Case study A
SRM University, AP: a university built for a new capital region
After Andhra Pradesh was reorganised in 2014, the state began developing Amaravati as its planned capital. SRM University, AP was established in 2017 by the SRM Trust under the Andhra Pradesh Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Act, 2016. Its campus is near Neerukonda village in Mangalagiri mandal, Guntur district, within the Amaravati capital area.[7]
Dr. T. R. Paarivendhar is the university’s Chancellor. The published record describes the institution as follows:[7]
- Established
- 2017
- Enabling law
- Andhra Pradesh Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Act, 2016
- Campus
- 100 acres, Amaravati capital region
- Schools
- School of Engineering and Sciences; Easwari School of Liberal Arts; Paari School of Business
- Campus design
- Perkins and Will, with PTK Architects, Chennai
- Programmes
- Undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral
Case study B
SRM Tamil Perayam: education beyond the technical
The SRM Tamil Perayam was established in 2010 as an initiative of Dr. T. R. Paarivendhar to promote and develop Tamil around the world.[3] It honours Tamil scholars and writers every year through an awards programme.
SRM’s report on the 2017 awards, presented on 31 January 2018 at the Kattankulathur campus, gives a detailed picture of the programme.[9] SRM describes the Perayam, also called the Tamizh Academy, as “functioning as a Fifth Tamil Sangam”, a reference to the literary academies of classical Tamil tradition. Its annual awards comprise:
- twelve awards worth ₹22 lakh in total for the best Tamil books in fields including creative literature, poetry, children’s literature, translation, science, fine arts, music and diaspora Tamil creative literature;
- a Young Tamil Researcher award of ₹1.5 lakh, named after former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam;
- a Best Tamil Scholar award of ₹2 lakh and a Lifetime Achiever in Tamil award of ₹5 lakh;
- three awards for the best Tamil forums in Tamil Nadu, in other Indian states and abroad, and an annual best journal award.
At the same function, SRM reported that ₹16 lakh for establishing a Tamil Chair at Harvard University was donated by Dr. Paarivendhar and students of the Paarivendhar Students Tamil Association. The cheque was received by the Tamil Nadu Minister for Tamil Official Language and Culture, K. Pandiyarajan, and Justice K. N. Basha, a former judge of the Madras High Court, was chief guest. SRM also reported that Dr. Paarivendhar, who presided, explained that the awardees had been selected on merit alone.[9]
§ 4 · Campus life
Literature and the arts on campus
Two photographs show the cultural and literary side of the SRM institutions. The captions describe only what the images show.
Sources
- SRM, founder profile “Dr. TR Paarivendhar”. srmonline.in/founder
- Scroll.in, profile of T. R. Pachamuthu, 29 August 2016. scroll.in
- SRM Institute of Science and Technology, report on the SRM Tamil Perayam Awards 2023. srmist.edu.in
- Wikipedia, “SRM Institute of Science and Technology”. en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, “SRM University, Sikkim”. en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, “SRM University, Haryana”. en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, “SRM University, Andhra Pradesh”. en.wikipedia.org
- Ministry of Education, National Institutional Ranking Framework 2023, Overall ranking. nirfindia.org
- SRM Institute of Science and Technology, report on the SRM Tamilperayam Award Function 2017, held 31 January 2018. srm-university.blogspot.com