The Indian Higher Education Pricing Paradox

Abstract

Private Unaided Educational Institutions play a major role in the Indian Higher Education system. Fees of such colleges are regulated by State Fee Regulatory authorities. A comparison of approved fees of around 1200 Private Unaided Engineering & MBA Colleges in 3 neighboring states, namely, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh for the academic year 2013/14 reveal some interesting findings. Collective consideration of these numbers raises some basic questions –What does the intra-state and inter-state differences in the fees for the same course and for the same academic year mean? Does education sell like real estate? If the differences are assumed to be genuine, that is, free of any manipulations, then is it the case that so much of difference in salaries of teaching staff and other facilities are acceptable to the course approving authority like All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) who follow a single set of norms for approval of the courses? Alternatively, if it is assumed that there can't be so much difference in the salaries and facilities, then, is it the case that in some cases salaries are being paid at a significantly higher rate and to higher number of people than what they are actually needed to be paid? The article is an attempt to ponder over questions that crop-up in the wake of the compiled data. It is an attempt to understand factors like commercialization, profiteering, quality etc related to higher education.