THUNCHATH EZHUTHACHAN MALAYALAM UNIVERSITY, TIRUR

Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University, also known as Malayalam University, is a state university situated in Tirur, Kerala, India. It was established by the Government of Kerala and inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on 1 November 2012 at Thunchanparamba, the home of Thunchath Ezhuthachan in Tirur. K. Jayakumar, a retired IAS officer and former Chief Secretary of Kerala, prepared the university's project report and became its first Vice-Chancellor. The university is named after Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, a 16th-century Malayalam litterateur credited with developing the Malayalam script and literature. At inauguration, the university lacked infrastructure and initially operated from temporary structures at Thunchan Memorial Govt College, Tirur. Its objectives include promoting Malayalam language studies, offering postgraduate education in literature, linguistics, culture, and social sciences, and undertaking research on Kerala's heritage and language. The university offers various postgraduate, diploma, and research programmes, including M.Phil. and Ph.D. in fields like Linguistics, Malayalam Literature, and Cultural Heritage. Its administrative structure includes a General Council and an Executive Committee, with the Governor of Kerala as chancellor and the state's higher education minister as pro-chancellor.