Chennai is the fourth largest city in India and, is generally considered to be the gateway of South India.  It is a superb city for education as well. It is exploding at its seams, as it enters a fresh stage of growth, where wealth is increasingly seen among the rich, very high consuming, managerial class.

Let us talk about education.  Contrary to public perception, Chennai today, is no more conservative.  The influx of people from other parts of the country continues unabated.  In fact, this is expected to grow at the rate of around 25% every year, more so, as the IT industry is very fast growing indeed.

Fashions have changed.  Life styles have changed.  And education has really changed with the times.  Many do not know that three or four of the best colleges in India, for undergraduate courses in Arts, Science and Commerce are in Chennai.  Top among them is the wonderful Loyola College, a seat of learning that would sit comfortably on par with the best in the country, like Stephen's of New Delhi.  The Commerce course is so good that graduates get automatically placed with multinational companies with annual salaries of five hundred thousand or more. 

Not many people know that the now world-famous BSc Degree in Visual Communication, was first started by this Autonomous College of the Madras University.  In fact, the products of this course from Loyola College dominate most of media all over the country and abroad.  It has among its guest faculty members, famous film personalities like Kamal Hasan, the National Award winner, and a big hero of Tamil Cinema.  Such is the standard of this course, that only those with exceptional talent can even secure an admission here.

This course is now available in many Chennai colleges, but Loyola remains on top.

Cut to education of women.  On the one hand, Loyola's old competitor, the world-famous Madras Christian College offers all its UG and PG courses to both men and women.  On the other hand, there is the MOP Vaishnav College, a college exclusively for women.  This college is also on par with Loyola in terms of exposure to modern concepts in education, linkage with industry practices and so on.  This college has now emerged as one of the best colleges in India, producing entrepreneurs.  The Women's Christian College, the Ethiraj College, and the D G Vaishnav college are other very famous colleges.

Similarly, Chennai is home to the maximum number of deemed Universities, that have over the years, produced excellent manpower not only for the IT industry, but for manufacturing industries as well.  The most famous of these deemed universities is the SRM University, which now draws students from all over the world.  Its infrastructure is now simply world-class.  It has excellent facilities for research and its contribution to space research has been duly recognized.  

Similarly, the VIT University, Vellore, has now a Chennai campus, where it offers courses in engineering.  VIT University is a big competitor to SRM.  Dr Abdul Rahman Univeristy, the Vels University and the Dr MGR University, have grown in stature in recent years.

The Anna University

This university is ranked among the best technological universities in India, and has excellent research facilities.  It is a Government University.  It has several avenues for research.  Once again, this University has been able to attract the best of talent from across the country.

The University of Madras is one of the oldest Universities in India, and its standards of higher education are among the best in the country. 

School Education

In the past few years, the school education in the CBSE schools of Chennai, is rated the best in the country, as with every passing year, students from these schools corner all the top ranks in the CBSE examinations.  In fact, many thousands of parents now opt to put their children to study in Chennai schools, and even seek transfers to Chennai, if they are Central Government employees, or bank employees.  Even businessmen are seen opting for Chennai schools.

In the years to come, Chennai is bound to grow from strength to strength, given its relatively peaceful atmosphere for studies, and the high quality of intellectual debate.  With a huge influx of people from most of India, and even from countries like Singapore, Chennai will top the list of the best cities for education in India.