ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the core idea(s), functions and objectives of the system and its constituent entity, namely universities. It presents empirical insights on the shifts in the policy ideals, meaning and practices of university governance in the public state university and private-deemed university in the state of Karnataka, as the case in point. The chapter illustrates the scenarios of the two sample universities substantiate a point that the idea of university governance emanates from the meanings and practices regarding expansion, equity and excellence. The ‘publicness’ of the erstwhile ‘elite’ universities is an outcome of an increased number of public universities and gradual backing from the government. Governance in the university encompasses the internal and the external environments, and the intersection between the inner world of the university and the larger milieu in which it exists. Most of the state universities are ‘affiliating universities’; there are about 310 such affiliating universities in India, and 25 in the state of Karnataka.
