Trends in Growth and Financing of Higher Education in India

Abstract

The Indian higher education system is presently facing several challenges. The challenge of global competitiveness has been added to other demanding tasks such as access, equity, relevance, quality, privatisation and internationalisation in the face of a resource crunch. This article gives an overview of trends in the expansion of higher education and examines variations in participation across states, gender and social groups. An attempt has also been made to discuss the trends in the financing of higher education. It argues that without appropriate policy interventions in school education, it would be of little use to have interventions at the higher educational level, which discriminate in favour of girls, SCs and STs. The present paper makes a modest attempt to discuss the trends in the growth and financing of higher education, besides highlighting some important issues regarding development of higher education in India. Given the limitations in available data, the paper gives an overview of trends in the expansion of higher education, and also attempts to examine variations in the participation in higher education across states, gender and social groups. An attempt has also been made to discuss trends in the financing of higher education and the resources required to meet the target of allocating 6 per cent of GDP to education. In the end the paper offers certain suggestions on critical development issues such as access, equity, quality, financing, privatisation, internationalisation and the need for creating a comprehensive database.