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India has the second largest higher education system in terms of institutions worldwide, despite having only 26.3% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), including vocational education. It aspires to achieve a target of 50% GER by 2035. It means it would require a larger number of higher education institutions (HEIs), public and private, in addition to huge fiscal resources. At present about 75% of the HEIs are privately managed with about 66% of student enrolment. Though there is no provision of for-profit higher education institutions in India, many non-profit private HEIs are actually working as for-profit. They are growing fast and are visible too. Therefore, it is high time now to think seriously about the pros and cons, causes and consequences of for-profit and nonprofit private HEIs in India. India provides a big market for non-profit and for-profit higher education to domestic and foreign stakeholders. Already 160 foreign universities are working in collaboration with public or private limited companies in India. This essay provides an analysis of issues related to for-profit and nonprofit HEIs, including desirability, size, funding, transparency, accountability, quality, feasibility and sustainability, government policies, regulation, foreign collaborations, private investments, and incentives. The methodology adopted is analytical, comparative, and empirical.

This paper examines the digital revolution taking place in the Indian higher education sector, by (i) highlighting the drivers for change in the higher education landscape; (ii) reviewing the major initiatives undertaken by Indian authorities to facilitate lifelong learning for teachers, students, and those in employment that are in pursuit of knowledge free of cost, including the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, the National Repository for Open Educational Resources, and SWAYAM, an indigenous information technology (IT) platform hosting MOOCs; and (iii) analysing the first generation of Indian MOOCs.

India demonstrates many features characteristic of private higher education in much of the world. Among these features are proportional size, with roughly 30 percent of total enrollment, and fast growth. Also rather typical is finance, which comes almost exclusively from non-government sources, principally tuition, while public higher education is mostly though decreasingly funded by government. Related to rapid growth and finance is the private sector's preponderance of commercial over academically strong institutions, bringing criticisms about quality and even fraud, including as many legally nonprofit institutions appear to be for-profit in reality. There are also religious and semi-elite private institutions but the clear majority of private enrollments lie in the non-elite and demand-absorbing sub-sector. Unsurprisingly, then, the extent and form of regulation is vigorously debated. All this is common internationally. On the other hand, though less powerfully, Indian private higher education also stands out for a number of relatively unusual configurations. Some are functions of the country's huge size. Its private sector nearly rivals that of the United States as the world's largest in absolute enrollment. Yet India's overall higher education system remains notably small in cohort enrollment--which suggests large latitude for further growth in the system overall and for the private share in particular. Another set of relatively unusual configurations relates to the political system. The world's greatest private growth is occurring in developing countries, most of which are non-democratic or problematically democratic. India is remarkably democratic. Indeed it is remarkably decentralized in its democracy, with a large role for individual states, Congress, and even the courts, and with vigorous debate among political parties. Debate over private higher education is particularly intense as deeply held socialist and state-oriented beliefs clash with the overall political-economic trend of privatization. (Contains 27 notes.) [This working paper is revised from "Commonality and Distinctiveness: Indian Private Higher Education in International Perspective," in eds. Asha Gupta, Daniel C. Levy, K.B. Powar, Private Higher Education: Global Trends and Indian Perspectives.]

One of the salient concerns in contemporary higher education internationally is access, which is rapidly expanding. Another salient trend is the rapid expansion of private higher education. These two salient tendencies have not been treated in scholarship as heavily intertwined. Much of the reason is that many people associate "private" with "elite," in part because of the U.S. reality of leading private universities clearly associated with elite functioning. In much of the rest of the world, suspicion of privates runs deep and there is little disposition to couple the negative connotations of private with the positive connotations of access. Yet as enrolment has been rising rapidly and keeps increasing, there are strong limitations on what can be accommodated through public higher education. Practically, either access is spurned, widely considered politically, socially, and even economically untenable or there must be explosive growth of private higher education. This is largely a matter of demand for higher education greatly outdistancing at least the public supply of higher education. Thus, much of the link between access and private higher education concerns "demand-absorbing" institutions, which is not to overlook more specialized avenues of access to other types of private institutions. At any rate private higher education has grown powerfully in recent decades and seems destined to grow further. India is a marked case of still very low cohort enrolment in higher education but with great demand and rapid private growth. (Contains 10 endnotes.) [This working paper is slightly revised from a presentation at the PROPHE Panel on Access and Private Higher Education at the 52nd CIES Annual Conference, March 20, 2008.]

The object of this paper is to analyze the concepts of "entrepreneurship" and "entrepreneurial university" in the broader context of globalization, technological innovations and the emergence of knowledge-based and technology-driven economies. Instead of epistemological and organizational forms of knowledge production and dissemination, the universities today are required to play a protagonist role by training productive intellectual resource and generation of new knowledge that could be converted into wealth or social gains. They are no longer confined to teaching "about" entrepreneurship but are actively engaged in teaching "for" entrepreneurship. Instead of preparing their students for seamless path to work, the universities are required to prepare them for uncertainties, complexities and vulnerabilities in future. Besides highlighting some of the issues at stake, an attempt is made to understand the economics, philosophy and legality behind the whole idea of entrepreneurial universities in general and in India, in particular. The idea of social entrepreneurship is also introduced in the context of India. The methodology adopted is analytical, descriptive and empirical. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The following paper highlights the political, economic, socio-cultural, ethical, philosophical, legal, and practical aspects of the far-reaching theme of international trends in private higher education, in general. It also focuses on the driving forces, causes and consequences of the emergence of private higher education in India during the last three decades, in particular. Though there has been more acceptance of private higher education institutions in India today than the "trepidation" felt at their emergence three decades ago, certain basic questions about its role remain. Is the presence of the private sector in higher education inevitable? Is it desirable? Besides focusing on certain basic issues at stake, this paper discusses at length the role of judiciary in private higher education in India. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

The 21st century has brought new challenges and opportunities for higher education. In the wake of the transition from elitist to mass education, universities worldwide are under pressure to enhance access and equity, on the one hand, and to maintain high standards of quality and excellence, on the other. Today the notion of equity not only implies greater access to higher education, but also opportunities for progress. In recent debates on higher education, the notions of equity and access go beyond minority to diversity. Affirmative action, too, has become race-exclusive and gender-neutral. The following paper makes an attempt to understand the nuances of a caste-based reservation policy in higher education in light of recent controversies, court verdicts, a subsequent amendment to the constitution in India; and affirmative action policies, court verdicts, and alternatives to affirmative action in certain universities in the US. The objective is to bring out commonalities and contrasts between the two countries in terms of legal, political, socio-cultural, economic, and psychological perspectives.

The United States has long enjoyed being on the cutting edge in its devotion to building a vibrant higher education sector. After a century of leading the world in participation rates in higher education, however, there are strong indications that America's advantage is waning. The academic research enterprise remains relatively vibrant. However, participation and degree attainment rates have leveled off and are showing signs of actual decline in a number of major states with large populations--and this seems to be more than just a bump or short-term market correction. Other competitive nations, and in particular key members of the European Union, along with China, India and other developing economies, are aggressively nurturing their higher education systems, expanding access, and better positioning themselves in the global economy. They have been trying harder, while in the US public funding for higher education has declined. The nation's international and domestic concerns lie elsewhere. In addition to outlining these reasons that America's higher education advantage is waning, this article also discusses the possible consequences. (Contains 53 notes.)

There is hardly any estimate of returns to schooling in India based on national level representative data for the recent period. This paper provides estimates of the economic returns to education in India by gender, age cohort, and location (by rural-urban) for the most recent period 1993-94, and also evaluates the changes in returns over a period of time from 1983-94 using national level representative household survey data. These are the only national surveys in India that provide information on the wages and some of the labor market characteristics of individuals. The data show that the returns to education increases up to the secondary level and declines thereafter. There is evidence of substantial gender and rural-urban differences in the returns to schooling. The returns to women's education for the primary and middle levels have declined while those for secondary and college levels have increased during 1983-94. Also discussed briefly are the structure of education and the labor market in India. Includes 6 notes. (Contains 21 references and 13 tables.) (BT)

This publication is one of two prepared for a South Asian colloquium on issues related to teacher training in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This volume includes four papers presented at the conference. The papers present an analytical view of both policy and practical measures on teacher education. The first paper, "The Professional Development and Training of Teacher Educators" (Elwyn Thomas) examines recruitment, training, and career development in teacher education. The second paper, "Teacher Education: The Quest for Quality" (Motilal Sharma), looks at issues in teacher education in Asia, including World Bank involvement and regional cooperation. The third paper, "A Critique of Policy and Practice in India and Bangladesh" (Adarsh Khanna), analyzes preservice and inservice teacher education in India and Bangladesh, the chief strengths of the Indian and Bangladesh systems, and the importance of aid agency projects. The fourth paper, "Initial Teacher Training in Pakistan" (Haroona Jatoi), explores preservice and inservice teacher training in Pakistan. (Individual papers contains references.) (ND)

This publication is one of two prepared for a South Asian Colloquium on issues related to teacher training in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The papers in this volume focus on innovations and alternative strategies designed to improve quality in teacher education at preservice phase. The publication is in five sections. The first four sections were prepared by the respective national Ministries of Education. Section 1 is on Bangladesh and includes an overview of literacy and primary education and a discussion of provisions for initial training of teachers, the funding of education, and problems and remedies. Section 2, on India, includes a brief history of India's educational system, a review of key issues in the National Policy of Education, a discussion of issues facing Indian educators in the nineties, and several data tables. Pakistan is the focus of section 3 which looks at historical perspectives on teacher training, training of elementary and secondary teachers, qualifications for teacher educators, innovations in teacher training, analysis of teacher training programs, financing of teacher education, and recommendations for future development. The fourth section is on Sri Lanka and covers inservice and preservice teacher education, successful innovations in teacher training, problems and issues, and statistical information. The final section is an overview by Beatrice Avalos which summarizes the educational context and the characteristics, issues, and alternatives of teacher education in general and in each of the four countries. (Individual sections contain references.) (ND)

This paper offers a broad look at accreditation and quality assurance in higher education and how these issues are addressed around the world. Section 1 is an overview of accreditation and addresses the aims and objectives of accreditation, standards, accreditation bodies, stages of the accreditation process, the quality of that process, the role of government in the accreditation process, some critical points of view concerning the process, and present accreditation trends. Section 2 looks at accreditation and quality assurance through brief national case studies. The nations represented are France, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, China, India, Hong Kong, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Australia. This section closes with a section comparing accreditation and quality assurance in various regions. Section 3 takes a closer and more detailed look at the accreditation process in Romania, particularly in light of the recent political and educational changes in this nation and the fairly recent decision to introduce accreditation of institutions of higher education. This examination covers accreditation principles and objectives, standards for initial and subsequent accreditation, application rules, structure of the accreditation committee and its functions, and provisions for financing accreditation. Appendixes contain institutional evaluation standards and a glossary. (Contains 27 references.) (JB)

This study explored the readjustment experience of 49 Indians who came to the United States to study and then returned to their home country. Interviews revealed that most experienced some stress or difficulty after their re-entry, with problems ranging from initial anxiety about getting a job or shock at the crowded conditions, pollution, or the frustrations of power and telephone outages, to an intense period of depression and alienation. A few who had been back in India for 4 to 5 years were still having a difficult time, while some students who had been back for less than a year seemed quite comfortable with their lives in India. Twelve interviewees specifically mentioned that they "think about going back" to the United States. Factors in difficult re-entries related to cultural differences, economic differences, changes in values, and having to make adjustments in many aspects of their lives such as changing family roles and changing from student life to work life. Profiles of five returned students are presented to illustrate their very different re-entry experiences. Issues discussed include returning to mutual dependence in the family, marriage and family, the job search, the work environment, national identity, attitudes, and coping strategies. (Contains 14 reference notes.) (JDD)

China and India have faced similar conditions and challenges in education during their rapid industrial and social transformation. The two countries started building their national education systems under comparable conditions in the late 1940s. However, different policies, strategies, and historical circumstances have led them through different routes. China has outperformed India in primary and secondary education along a broad spectrum of access, quality, and delivery indicators. India, on the other hand, enjoys a competitive edge over China in higher education. Recently, India has begun catching up with China in K-12 education, while China has already overtaken India in terms of the college enrollment and number of graduates. The respective successes and challenges of the Chinese and Indian education systems offer valuable lessons for both countries and for the rest of the developing world. The authors identify issues that deserve further attention of researchers and policymakers. (Contains 6 figures, 2 tables, 14 footnotes, and a bibliography.)

The papers contained in this dosument were prepared as background material for the Communication/Journalism Teachers Seminar in June 1971, and provide information on the history, development, present status, and problems of communication/journalism education in Hong Kong and six Asian countries. These countries are the Republic of China, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. Also included are a summary of the seminar by Jack Lyle and a list of the seminar participants. (JM)

This is a report of the Two-Day National Seminar on New Directions in Higher Education, organized by the Kerala State Higher Education Council on 12th and 13th July 2010. The objective of the seminar was to deliberate upon the reforms being undertaken by the Government of India in Higher Education. Reputed scholars from within and outside the state of Kerala participated in the seminar held in the Senate Chamber of Kerala University. The author was a delegate of the seminar and had closely followed the presentations and has attempted to document them. The main issues discussed by the speakers and a gist of the comments offered by the audience is included in the report. Most of the speakers had circulated the text of their presentation. Significant observations included in those circulated papers have also been included in the report. The entire proceedings of the seminar was being recorded and is likely to be published by the Kerala State Higher Education Council. But that may take some time.

This report evaluates the increasing use and adaptations of the academic credit system by developing nations in an attempt to improve quality and cost-effectiveness of their higher education systems. Chapter 1 offers an overview of the credit system and explains how it works in breaking down the curriculum into measurable units that can be accrued in various combinations toward a degree. Chapter 2 analyzes the strengths and weakness of the academic credit system. Strengths are identified as learning effectiveness, added flexibility and responsiveness, and cost effectiveness. Weaknesses noted include fragmentation of knowledge, possible distortions in student motivation, problems with credit transferability, and failure to distinguish certification from true education. Chapter 3 specifically addresses the credit system's applicability to developing countries, noting existing models and the rigid nature of most of these nation's higher education systems. Three examples of how countries have adapted the credit system are offered: Thailand, which chose system-wide implementation; India, which implemented the credit system at the Indian Institutes of Technology; and Senegal, which is experimenting with the system at the University of Dakar. (Contains 40 references.) (DB)

Affirmative action policies in higher education are used in many countries to try to socially advance historically disadvantaged minorities. Although the underlying social objectives of these policies are rarely criticized, there is intense debate over the actual impact of such preferences in higher education on educational performance and labor outcomes. Most of the work uses U.S. data where clean performance indicators are hard to find. Using a remarkably detailed dataset on the 2008 graduating class from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi we evaluate the impact of affirmative action policies in higher education on minority students focusing on three central issues in the current debate: targeting, catch up, and mismatch. In addition, we present preliminary evidence on labor market discrimination. We find that admission preferences effectively target minority students who are poorer than the average displaced non-minority student. Moreover, by analyzing the college performance of minority and non-minority students as they progress through college, we find that scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students, especially those in more selective majors, fall behind their same-major peers which is the opposite of catching up. We also identify evidence in favor of the mismatch hypothesis: once we control for selection into majors, minority students who enroll in more selective majors as a consequence of admission preferences end up earning less than their same-caste counterparts in less selective majors. Finally, although there is no evidence of discrimination against minority students in terms of wages, we find that scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students are more likely to get worse jobs, even after controlling for selection.

Many countries mandate affirmative action in university admissions for traditionally disadvantaged groups. Little is known about either the efficacy or costs of these programs. This paper examines affirmative action in engineering colleges in India for "lower-caste" groups. We find that it successfully targets the financially disadvantaged: the marginal upper-caste applicant comes from a more advantaged background than the marginal lower-caste applicant who displaces him. Despite much lower entrance exam scores, the marginal lower-caste entrant does benefit: we find a strong, positive economic return to admission. These findings contradict common arguments against affirmative action: that it is only relevant for richer lower-caste members, or that those who are admitted are too unprepared to benefit from the education. However, these benefits come at a cost. Our point estimates suggest that the marginal upper-caste entrant enjoys nearly twice the earnings level gain as the marginal lower-caste entrant. This finding illustrates the program's redistributive nature: it benefits the poor, but costs resources in absolute terms. One reason for this lower level gain is that a smaller fraction of lower-caste admits end up employed in engineering or advanced technical jobs. Finally, we find no evidence that the marginal upper-caste applicant who is rejected due to the policy ends up with more negative attitudes towards lower castes or towards affirmative action programs. On the other hand, there is some weak evidence that the marginal lower-caste admits become stronger supporters of affirmative action programs.