ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the market for education, and in particular higher education, is different and hence needs to be treated with caution in the context of the prevailing socio-economic situation in India. It highlights how delicately the government has to intervene in the market to reconcile the two conflicting issues education for masses and education for profit. A market for higher education is gradually evolving, and recent policy initiatives by the government could be viewed as attempts towards regulating the market. World over, education reform is guided by pro-market rationale, which involves exposing the sector to competition resulting in improved efficiency and quality. The neoliberals would argue that this freedom is a necessary condition for developing a quasi-market-like situation. But for higher education in particular, merit comes first, followed by the ability to pay to exercise the choice. Some universities, mostly the State universities have sought to garner more resources through self-financing courses which are generally market-oriented professional courses.
