ABSTRACT
Financing, and in particular, mode of financing higher education is crucial for addressing all the major objectives envisaged for higher education, expansion, inclusion and excellence. Though public financing has remained the dominant source of financing higher education, fiscal constraints faced both by the centre and the states and the widening gap between stagnant revenue and burgeoning cost have compelled the publicly funded universities to look for additional and alternative sources to supplement dwindling public funding. As a part of the new economic policy, policies have been framed to usher in the private sector in the delivery of higher education to realise ostensibly the objectives of efficiency gains and quality improvement and also contribute to the expansion of higher education. Between the two extremes of public and private funding, of late the government is also exploring possibilities of partnerships with the private sector to realise the advantages of both modes of funding.
