PROPHE Summary:
The mushrooming of 108 private universities from the new state of Chattisgarh
in India during
the last two years, often without traditional levels of faculty or infrastructure,
has been an eye opener. The private sector has taken the advantage of
the lenient legislation passed by Chattisgarh state on the
one hand and the gap between the demand and supply of the market oriented
courses, on the other. Many foreign universities have also succeeded
in launching programs with local institutions in India on a
twinning basis. Now a dire need is felt across the country for greater
regulation. The Chattisgarh case has reinforced public distrust in private
initiatives in Indian higher education.
The full text of Shailaja Neelakantan's "India Struggles to Meet
Demand for Higher Education: Private Struggles to Meet Demand for Higher
Education" can be found in the June 18, 2004, Volume 50, Issue
41, Page A39, of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
PROPHE Observation:
Considerable ambiguity prevails over private initiatives in higher
education in India due to a lack of a coherent policy and to inter-state
variation. The unanticipated growth of private universities from the
state of Chattisgarh is an apt example (though mostly through study
centers throughout India, with dubious prospects). Although unanticipated
private explosion has occurred in other regions of the world it is more
common where private higher education is new. In India there is longstanding
private higher education though the commercial form is recent. India
provides a lucrative market to both domestic private and foreign stakeholders.
The government is not ready to relinquish its control over higher education
but has to allow fresh forms to meet its own target of enrolling at
least 10% of the cohort by 2007. Indians are forced to consider the
domestic manifestations of the usual case for private higher education
in developing countries: provision of needed access, efficiency, competitive
dynamics, and novel domestic-foreign and private-public arrangements.
Simultaneously, however, they must grapple with legal provisions, regulations,
quality controls, and the like. Meanwhile, Indian present and future
policy remains quite uncertain.
