Higher Education in the Private Sector

The editorial “Degrees of Disparity” (EPW, 6 February 2010) is undoubtedly a well written and researched piece but n evertheless it misses out some facts behind the rise of private institutes in education.

With the markets becoming freer, new career opportunities have been created. Perhaps these aspirations were present all along, but they remained latent as the markets, especially the market for education, was throttled by a maze of regulations, restrictions and licences, some justi- fi able and some not. Access to higher and professional qualifi cation was restrained not just by merit but also by the limited availability of public resources.