Reclaiming Public Universities

‘This superb collection of essays on the nature of higher education in different settings will greatly advance debates on the place of universities in contemporary society. The contributors explain why it is so important for scholars to protect the idea of the university as a public good, drawing on case material from across the Global North and Global South. Incisive, accessible, and written by leaders in the field, the book is an indispensable guide to the futures of the modern university.’ Craig Jeffrey, Professor, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia ‘There is a growing consensus that higher education is in a process of radical change. The shift is of global dimensions, but the ‘university’ faces unprecedented challenges in the global south. This volume brings together scholars from different countries of the global north and south to engage in comparative conversations about both policy and social change in higher education. There can be no doubt that our research capacities must be turned inward now. In India, scholars have not turned their gaze sufficiently upon themselves; there has not been enough empirically grounded and quality research on higher education institutions. This volume is a much-needed step in that direction, and I look forward to it stimulating debates and discussions on defining questions in higher education of our time.’ Samita Sen, Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, UK ‘This book brings fresh eyes and new ideas to the ordinary, everyday ways in which public universities function in comparative spaces. The comparative reflections further regain lost ground on a number of debates in higher education and higher education curricular reform amidst invasive and market-led changes in different local contexts as a result of globalisation. The book also reveals the persistence of colonial history and inequality in the institutional arena of higher education and how these continue to shape university processes across the developing world. This is essential and indispensable work in the contemporary period, with the authors providing invaluable and persuasive arguments for reclaiming the “public” in the public university system.’ Azeem Badroodien, Professor and Director, School of Education, University of Cape Town, South Africa ‘With the growing erosion of public and simultaneous rise of private universities, and with a new management approach that lays emphasis on efficiency, accountability, and global competitiveness of universities, the cost is paid in terms of denying equal access to quality education for the masses. This book by drawing from similar experience of universities in the global South, comes with a warning on utter neglect of public university, the prime instrument of massification of higher education in India.’ Sukhadeo Thorat, Professor Emeritus, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Former Chairman of University Grants Commission, and Indian Council of Social Science Research