A STUDY ON PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR IN INDIA

Over the last decade, the higher education system in India has posted a commendable growth and has become one of the largest systems of higher education in world, with more than 20 million students enrolled in 700 universities and 35000 affiliated colleges. Such an achievement would not have been possible without the participation of private sector in higher education system. Historically, the public sector has dominated the Indian higher education, however it has not been able to provide access to a large population of student candidates into graduate education, as reflected by the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in 2010, hovering at 13.8%.It was largely because of the emergence of private sector, that the student enrolment into higher education has got increased to 23.6% in 2015. The private sector could also be credited with the establishment of some globally-renowned institutions in India that have made use of state-of-the-art infrastructure to impart world-class education to Indian students. This research paper attempts to evaluate the influence and role of private sector participation into rising of higher education sector in India and its consequences there upon.