The university was established in the year 1966 as Madurai University. In 1978, the name was changed to Madurai Kamaraj University to honor K. Kamaraj, former Chief Minister of Madras State.[4]
There are 121 colleges and institutions under MKU which include 16 aided colleges, 24 autonomous colleges (including both government and self-financed), 4 constituent colleges, 1 MKU college, 5 MKU evening colleges, 57 self-financed colleges and 14 approved institutions. Currently, the university consists of 77 renowned Departments and 20 renowned Schools as a whole.
Santhosh George Kulangara, is an Indian traveller, television producer, director, broadcaster, editor, publisher and he is the founder and managing director of Safari TV and also serves as the head of Labour India Publications, an educational publisher for school children.
K.K. Pillay, eminent Indian historian, headed the Department of History in University of Madras and the first President of South Indian History Congress in the premises of the School of Historical Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University
Ch. Mohan Rao, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Medical Sciences), Executive Committee member for the Centre of Excellence of the Bioinformatics Centre (founded by Prof. Kappamuthu Dharmalingam), Madurai Kamaraj University, 2004
P.N. Rangarajan, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Medical Sciences) and N-BIOS awardee, Coconvenor of the lecture workshop on Recent Advances in Biotechnology of Health and Disease (BHD-2011) organized by Madurai Kamaraj University in 2011[13]
Sathees Chukkurumbal Raghavan, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Biological Sciences), Convenor of the lecture workshop on Recent Advances in Biotechnology of Health and Disease (BHD-2011) organized by Madurai Kamaraj University in 2011[13]
Erwin Bünning, eminent German chronobiologist, invited by M. K. Chandrashekaran to India in 1978, to conduct the Biological Oscillation workshop in Madurai Kamaraj University[14]
Dorairajan Balasubramanian, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Chemical Sciences),[11]Padma Shri awardee and member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15]
Dipankar Chatterji, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Biological Sciences), Padma Shri awardee and member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15][11]
Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Biological Sciences), Padma Shri awardee and member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15][11]
Rakesh Bhatnagar, member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15]
Tapas Kumar Kundu, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Biological Sciences), N-BIOS awardee and member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15][11]
Siddhartha Roy, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate (for Biological Sciences) and member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15][11]
Rakesh Mishra, member of the advisory committee for 'International Conference on Genome Biology 2019 (ICGB-2019)' organized by the School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University[15]