Revolutionizing higher education: rethinking funding and global models with an Indian lens

Purpose This paper highlights the critical challenge of India’s higher education sector being overly reliant on government funding. It underscores the need to explore alternative and sustainable financial sources to reduce this dependency and ensure robust support for academic institutions in a broader global context. Design/methodology/design The study employs a cross-national comparative approach grounded in the review of existing literature based on secondary data from official publications, research studies, and prior analyses to evaluate financing practices and policy frameworks across countries. Basic statistical tools are used to support the comparative analysis relevant to India. Findings While the research on higher education in India is multidimensional, it does not adequately focus on self-sustained finance and developing models having linkages with a market economy. This paper suggests innovative instruments for financing higher education and proposes the reform measures to achieve this goal. The new approach to revitalizing financing must be supported by transformative changes, including reforms in the legal framework, enhancements to internal systems, increased project management awareness, controlled massification, thoughtful privatization, financial management skills, and improvements in the products offered by higher education institutions. Originality/value This paper addresses a critical gap in higher education finance by proposing self-sustaining, market-linked funding models. It offers innovative financial instruments aimed at reducing dependency on state support.