India has a large network of around 634 universities and 33,000 colleges with 817,000 teachers spread across the length and breadth of the country.
Despite its massive geographical reach, higher education in India has had its share of problems.
This volume is a collection of essays which discusses these problems like inclusiveness and the impact of reservation on education, the problems of mediocrity, shortage of funds, dwindling numbers of faculty and the unemployment of the educated youth, to name a few.
Tracing the history of higher education in India from the days of Nalanda and Takshashila, Jandhyala B. G. Tilak in his introduction explains why it is necessary to have a vision and a roadmap for this.
It includes diverse perspectives and case studies on a few educational institutes like the University of Mysore (pp. 239-251), IITs (pp. 309-25) to explain these issues.
Introduction Jandhyala B. G. Tilak
Part I: Democracy, Equality and Universality 1. Equality and Universality André Béteille 2. Democracy, Plurality and the Indian University Shiv Visvanathan
Part II: Equality to Inclusion in Higher Education 3. Education for Equality: The Case of Scheduled Castes in Higher Education Suma Chitnis 4. Exclusive Inequalities: Merit, Caste and Discrimination in Indian Higher Education Today Satish Deshpande 5. On Backwardness and Fair Access to Higher Education: Results from NSS 55th Round Surveys, 1999–2000 K. Sundaram 6. Who Participates in Higher Education in India? Rethinking the Role of Affirmative Action Rakesh Basantand Gitanjali Sen 7. Case for Caste-based Quotas in Higher Education Jayati Ghosh 8. Impact of Reservation on Admissions to Higher Education in India Thomas E. Weisskopf
Section III: Excellence in Higher Education 9. ‘Standards’ in Democratised Higher Education: An Analysis of the Indian Experience Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph 10. Higher Education and Research: Roots of Mediocrity A. M. Shah 11. Contractual Arrangements in Academia: Implications for Performance Errol D’Souza 12. Graduate Unemployment in India: G. D. Sharma and M. D. Apte
Section IV: Case Studies on Higher Education 13. The University of Mysore: A Case Study in Decentralisation Glynn L. Wood 14. Private and Social Returns to Higher Education: A Case Study of Delhi Graduates D. P. Chaudhri and Potluri Rao 15. Parallel Colleges in Kerala: Enrolment, Costs and Employment R. Gopinathan Nair and D. Ajit 16. Financing of Universities in Gujarat D. T. Lakdawala and K. R. Shah 17. Social Behaviour of Students: A Women’s College in Mysore City Chitra Sivakumar 18. IITs Yesterday and Tomorrow Amrik Singh
Section V: Public Expenditure on Education 19. Public Subsidies in Education in India Jandhyala B. G. Tilak 20. Determinants of Expenditure on Education: An Empirical Analysis Using State-level Data Anindita Chakrabarti and Rama Joglekar
Section VI: State, Markets and Globalisation 21. Higher Education in ‘Trishanku’: Hanging between State and Market Jandhyala B. G. Tilak 22. Globalisation, Higher Education and Gender: Changing Subject Choices of Indian Women Students Karuna Chanana 23. The Market in Higher Education: Concern for Equity and Quality Saumen Chattopadhyay 24. Internationalisation of Higher Education: Strategic Implications Samuel Paul 25. Globalisation: What Does It Mean for Higher Education? Deepak Nayyar
Section VII: Towards Reforming Higher Education 26. Restructuring Our Universities Amrik Singh 27. Reform of Higher Education V. M. Dandekar 28. Higher Education: Critique of the Knowledge Commission M. Anandakrishnan Commission versus Commission in Higher Education Thomas Joseph Knowledge Commission and Higher Education Jandhyala B. G. Tilak 29. Universities as Public Institutions André Béteille
List of Authors