Financing of Higher Education Institutions: Access to Funds and Issues of Equity

Abstract

Many developing countries have reached the stage of massification of higher education. But, the journey to massification is driven by most of these countries through private investment rather than public sector initiative unlike the countries in developed economies. While there is a growing demand for higher education, the fully funded public higher education institutions in urban regions lax attitude to explore alternative sources of funds have negative impact on existing scarcity of public funds to meet the urgent needs of other important sectors. It has serious implications for the existing higher education institutions in under-developed regions struggling for funds to cater to the growing demand for higher education. The paper is based on a case study of a private aided higher education institution located in a developed region of India.