Public and private Higher Education in laissez-faire economy: Echoes of marginal section students of India

The advocates of privatisation arguing that education as a commodity in the utilitarian theory of economics. In contrast to this the advocates of public mode of higher education have different opinions. They aspire to a state affirmed/ public funded higher education format. However, in the neoliberal era many countries adopted the principles of market-driven economy in their educational system. Exploring the discourse in the neoliberal economy, this paper tries to correlate evidence from theories and practice to examine the policy changes in higher education, further, it analyses both public and private higher education students’ experiences of accessibility, participation and performance in their respective campuses. It also examines, skills gap and placement chances; student debts, access to quality teaching-learning process; and importantly learning outcome of the students in both public and private higher educational institutions. Empirically, exploratory design is carried out in five public and private higher educational institutions through case study (20), focus group discussion (10) and survey (n=350) methods. Analysis for the empirical part is done through data triangulation methods. The paper establishes where the marginal section students find a better place for them to access equal, dignified and employable higher education in the present laissez-faire economy. The findings come with the model of ‘equal opportunity’ based higher education format which keeps all social categories to address diversity within the higher education and bridge-up remedial classes for the marginal section students. To strengthen the capabilities of the marginal section students it came up with the model of ‘state driven cultural capital’ in higher education systems where the students of the marginal section can equally access, participate and perform even in private mode of higher education. The demand for affirmative action within the private form of education is also the important suggestion which is also evident this study.