ABSTRACT
The last two decades witnessed an unprecedented expansion of higher education. The massive expansion of the sector is also accompanied by diversification of institutional arrangements for pursuing higher education, programmes of study, sources of funding, and diversity of student body. While state funding and public institutions determined the expansion of higher education in most countries in decades till the 1980s, the private institutions and non-state funding characterised the massification phase of the sector in many countries in this century.
The increasing social demand for higher education has put pressure on the public exchequer to finance expansion of the sector, and it triggered the debates on ways of financing of higher educationa debate which still remains inconclusive.
The arguments against public funding of the sector took roots in the context of ascendency of markets in decision-making during the globalisation period. At present, there are very few countries without private universities and in many countries, especially less-developed countries, the number of private higher education institutions exceeds the number of public institutions. This chapter gives a broader overview of the transition from public to private higher education. It highlights the shifts and trends of higher education institutions in India starting from private-aided colleges, to self-financing public higher education institutions and then gradual trends towards the establishment of private universities in recent decades.
