Transition from higher education as a public good to higher education as a private good: the saga of Indian experience

Conventionally, higher education is regarded as a public good, producing a huge set of externalities, benefiting not only the individuals but also the whole society. Higher education institutions are recognized as important social institutions, performing vital social functions, that are widely acknowledged as noble and core for the very sustenance of societies, besides creating and disseminating knowledge. But of late, the chronic shortage of public funds for higher education, the widespread introduction of neo-liberal economic policies and globalization in every country and in every sector, which also contributed to rapid growth in privatization of education, and the heralding of the international law on trade in services by the World Treaty Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) - all tend to question the long-cherished and well-established view of many on higher education as a public good, and to propose and legitimize the sale and purchase of higher education, as if it is a commodity meant for trade. In India too, the introduction of neo-liberal policies in the early 1990s has resulted in a significant shift in public approach to education: the public good character is being forgotten, and the profit-seeking private sector is gaining strength. All this poses serious problems relating to access, quality, and equity in education, resulting in dangerous cracks in the edifice of higher education.