Union-State Relations in India's Higher Education

There is an enormous amount of literature on various aspects of India‘s higher education system. However, the literature on union (centre) ― state relations in education is scanty. Indian federalism is somewhat unique and complex and it has significant implications for the development of the education sector by the union government and the governments at the state level. New structures and mechanisms are also being set up towards improving union-state relations and their respective roles in the development of the nation. This paper presents an analytical description of the impact that the particular nature of Indian federalism has had on shaping of the higher education system and its expansion. Besides describing the complex nature of the Indian federal system as outlined in the Constitution, an attempt has been made to analyse union-state relations in education more generally, and in higher education system in particular, including its rapid expansion over the last 30 years. In the process of analysing union-state relations, some of the important issues on which we find some kind of uneasiness, if not tensions between the state and the union government in their playing respective roles are highlighted, including the trends in financing of higher education within the context of the Indian federal system.