Privatisation in Higher Education- A Case

Study of Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Introduction:

Higher education: the education, which is obtained after

completing 12 years of schooling or equivalent and is of

the duration of at least nine months (full time) or after

completing 10 years of schooling and is of the duration of

at least 3 years. The education may be of the nature of

General, Vocational, Professional or Technical education

In today’s information societies, knowledge drives

economic growth and development. Higher education is

the main source of that knowledge – its production,

dissemination and its absorption by any society.

Higher Education Institutions are a major source for

providing the human capital required for knowledge

production.

Privatisation of Higher Education:

Privatisation in education sector can be defined as the

"transfer of assets, management, functions or

responsibilities [relating to education] previously owned or

carried out by the State to private actors.

substantial growth of private players in Higher Education

is seen since last two to three decades

Most of the State Governments in India have encouraged

the growth of private technical institutions and Universities

to provide quality higher education in a greater way.

So this research aims on finding the reason of increasing

participation of private providers over last two decades.

Problem Statement:

Today a new crop of institutions of higher learning has

come up to fill in the gap in capacity creation and most of

them are for profit.

According to estimates, these institutions account for

nearly one third of all institutions of higher learning

(Hashim, 2008). Since last two to three decades their

numbers have increased unprecedentedly.

Hence it is the need of the hour to understand the extent

of privatization especially in the Higher Education.

Research questions:

In spite of having government colleges at low price of tuition fees and other facilities, still private sector is growing in higher education field with unprecedented rate since the past two decades. Why?

Is it a question of status in today’s world?

Is it because Parents and Students find it easy to get admission in Private Colleges as compared to Government Colleges?

Is it because of the standards of government colleges declining day by day or is it because the standards of private colleges increasing day by day?

Or is it because of the different educational environment that these private colleges create for their students?

Rationale: Today, the growing commercialization has many reasons.

These reasons include socio-economic policies adopted by the successive union governments, particularly since mid-eighties, the ideological commitments of the ruling class, proactive role of the judiciary, vested interest of the business houses, the failure of the State funded education system due to gradual withdrawal of the State in responding to the needs and requirements of the people and growing choice of the elite, neo-rich and affluent sections for the private sector institutions both local and foreign.

By privatising the higher education, it would lead to the access of higher education to a certain section of the society because of high tuition fees. And that should not happen. Largely it is a national concern as higher education is very much necessary and plays an important role in skill building.

Hence, there is a need to study this phenomenon of

privatisation especially the reason of this privatisation.

There has been study regarding the commercialisation.

But there have been very less studies concerning why

privatisation and commercialisation happening.

Specifically this is true when it comes to understand it

from the point of view from the people. This research is an

attempt to bring this gap in the academic literature.

Aims and Objectives

The research would mainly focus to understand the

process of privatisation of higher education through

a case study of Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Finding out the extent to which people are going to

private colleges and govt colleges

The reasons behind the choices people make

regarding private and government colleges

To understand the reasons at the structural and

policy level which have led to increasing

privatisation in Higher Education.

Literature Review:

Starting with 1950-51, there were only 263000 students in

all disciplines in 750 colleges affiliated to 30 universities in

India.

This has grown by 2012 to 20 million students in 35539

colleges affiliated to 700 universities making India’s

system of higher education the third largest in the world in

terms of enrolment and the largest in terms of number of

institutions.

The withdrawal of government from providing financial

support to university system suggested these institutions

to become self supporting institutions. This action of

government led to the emergence of new phenomenon of

privatisation.

It is justified that due to the privatization number of private

professional institutes has increased. It is no doubt required to

cope up with growing needs but this has been at the cost of

quality. Government has given too much independence to

these private institutes which would lead to the

commercialization of education. This would give rise to many

problems like hike in students’ fees, capitation fee, exploitation

of professors etc. A steep hike in fees does not make higher

education accessible, equitable and affordable to all.

Some positive effects of privatization are also noted. Private

colleges are almost independent of political interventions.

According to Honorable Supreme Court, unaided professional

institutes are autonomous in their administration and decisions.

But they have to follow necessary guidelines notified by

regulating agencies regarding admission, examination,

recruitment of staff etc. Better quality higher education can also

be provided by private sector.

Methodology:

The research would be done in Bhubaneswar in few different

colleges i.e. some private and some govt colleges. The sample

selected is the batch of class 12 of Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1

(2nd Shift) who passed out in 2012 and continuing their

graduation in various government and private colleges and

along with those students, faculties of the govt and private

colleges in which they are studying and the parents of these

students.

Methods to be used: Survey

Interview

Case Study

Focused Group Discussion

Sample Size: 40 undergraduate students, 10 parents and 10

teachers

References:

Balakrishnan, P. (2007), Higher Education in India: Will SixPercent Do It, Economic and Political Weekly, Sep 29 – Oct 52007, Vol. 42, No. 39, pp. 3930-3934

Chattopadhyay, S. (2009), The Market in Higher Education:Concern for Equity and Quality, Economic and Political Weekly,July 18-24 2009, Vol. 44, No. 29, pp. 53-61

Choudaha, R. (2013), http://www.dreducation.com/2013/08/data-statistics-india-student-college.html (last accessed on 5th Oct 2014 )

Hashim, S.R, (2008), State of Higher Education in India, IndiaDevelopment Report 2008, Oxford University Press

Indian Standard Classification of Education, (2014) Ministry ofHuman Resource Development, Department of HigherEducation, Government of India

References Contd.

Malhotra, S.P. (2003), Business Behaviour in IndianHigher Education System and its Impact on Equality,Globalisation and Challenges for Education, ShipraPublication

Mathew, E.T. (1996), Financial Aspect of Privatisation ofHigher Education: Issues and Options, Economic andPolitical Weekly, 6 April 1996, Vol. 31, pp. 866-869

Pinto, A. (2004), Higher Education, Ideology and Politics,Books for Change

Sharma, V. (2005), Commercialisation of HigherEducation in India, Social Scientist, Debating Education(Sep – Oct 2005), Vol. 33, No. 9/10, pp. 65-74

http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/10th/volume2/v2_ch2_5.pdf (last accessed on 5th Oct 2014)

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