Contents: Foreword/Yogesh Atal. Preface. Introduction: Dilemmas in Reforming Higher Education in India. Part I: Higher Education, Equity and Development. 1. Higher Education in India: In Search of Equality, Quality and Quantity. 2. Transition from Higher Education as Public Good Higher Education as Private Good. 3. How Inclusive is Higher Education in India? 4. Post-elementary Education, Poverty and Development. Part II: Financing of Higher Education. 5. Financing Higher Education in India: Principles, Practice and Policy Issues. 6. Financing Higher Education under Structural Adjustment. 7. Student Loans and Financing of Higher Education. 8. Financing Higher Technical Education. 9. Changing Patterns of Financing Education. Part III: Privatisation of Higher Education. 10. Emerging Trends and Evolving Public Policies on Privatisation of Higher Education in India. 11. Private Sector in Higher Education: A Few Stylised Facts. 12. Autonomy in Higher Education: Old Wine Fails to Attract-A Review of Growth, Problems and Prospects of Autonomous Colleges. Part IV: Policy Perspectives and Perplexities. 13. Policy Crisis in Higher Education: Reform or Deform? 14. Global Rankings, World-class Universities and Dilemma in Higher Education Policy in India. 15. On the Rejuvenation of Public Universities. Index. Why is public higher education important? How can a country as economically and socially diverse as India ensure the growth and prosperity of its population through a robust public higher education system? Dilemmas in Reforming Higher Education in India, which includes a short selection of writings of eminent scholar of education, Jandhyala B. G. Tilak, brings together critical articles, and discusses how higher education, a valuable and special public good, can counter the many tensions between tradition and modernity. Exploring the issue of whether higher education is a ‘public good’, these essays trace direct and indirect social benefits that are commonly overlooked, and highlight the several inadequacies in our system. The author argues that the chronic shortage of public funds for higher education, and the widespread introduction of neo-liberal economic policies and globalisation in every sector, has displaced this cherished view of higher education as a public good, legitimising its sale and purchase instead.