Public-Funding in Higher Education: a Critical Reflection

Abstract

For a building nation, education is indispensable for the population which is contributing towards its growth. While education has been recognized as the basic right of every human, the government should adopt the education based human capital approach towards building a pool of skilled population. Regrettably, government's past budget planning and efforts are not effective towards recognizing the critical role 4 the education sector. Today, financial trouble is the greatest encounter worrying the institutes of higher learning in India despite fairly strong economic growth. Our countries economic return has recoiled growth in GDP in last 2 and half decades, keeping a blind side towards the continuous Ivor state of higher education. Even after high GDP growth rates seen in the last 2 and half decades of the economic reforms in our country, the state of higher education continues to be in a poor state. The financial reality is that many resourced starved institutes of higher tear • g will not survive given the huge financial challenges facing higher education. The absence 4 interest and motivation of successive central governments to develop and allocate resources towards higher education is the key cause resulting the poor condition of higher education in the country, ranking 130th in the Human Development Index (H. D.U. Since long various committees and commissions have been recommending, outlaying 6% of GDP and 10% of the budget on education, but only remains a distant dream. The last 19 years have seen a drastic slashing of public-funding in higher education. The process has touched a worrying level during the past few years. The slash in public expenditure on higher education is evident across the spectrum of UGC, ❑Ts, lIMs, NITs, central and state universities. To compensate for these gaps, many institutions of higher learning augmented tuition fees substantially, shifting more of the financial load of higher education to students and their parents. The imminent impact of this will result in limiting the accessibility to education, predominantly the higher education. The financial deficit will endanger the development and growth in the higher education sector, already vulnerable due to its increasing costs and virtual constraints, blocking further growth. The need of the hour is an increase in public expenditure on higher education. A sound, efficient and equity based higher education system combined with sustainable and inclusive growth will help in enlarging intellectual capital. The present paper is an attempt to explore such issues and challenges.