India added 196 public universities in 15 years, but most barely functional; private ones outnumber them

In the last 15 years, the count of private universities has grown much faster than public ones. Of the 520 public universities in the country, just 196 (38%) were built after 2011. Plus, a sizeable section of them have encountered significant funding and operational challenges.

It is interesting to note that, despite the push for multidisciplinarity, a large number of new state public universities have a very specialised focus – sports, skills, veterinary sciences, fishery, animal sciences, horticulture, fine arts, specific languages, universities for people with disabilities.

West Bengal has added 18 new public universities – the highest of all states – followed by Rajasthan, in the last 15 years.

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But the growth in the number of private universities far outstrips that of public ones in most cases. Over the same period, Rajasthan saw 40 new private universities. Gujarat, which has seen maximum proliferation, has added 54 private universities; its count of public institutions has gone up by just nine, taking the total to 39.

“It is a well known fact that one of the major reasons behind the slow growth is funding issues. There are administrative and bureaucratic hurdles as well,” said the vice-chancellor of a state university, on condition of anonymity. However, until at least 2021-22, the latest report available of the All India State of Higher Education (AISHE), public state universities account for 81% of the total student enrolment in higher education in India.

As for centrally-run institutions, 10 central universities and 30 deemed-to-be universities were added after 2011, bringing their total counts to 57 and 155, respectively.

Young public universities

In 2018 alone, the West Bengal government announced four universities – Dakshin Dinajpur University, Darjeeling Hills University, Alipurdwar University, Mahatma Gandhi University-Puba Midnapur.

Darjeeling Hills University started functioning only in 2021 and for a long time students attended online classes, as there was no permanent VC or staff. In 2023-24, even admissions were paused. Due to constant conflict between the previous West Bengal government and the centrally-appointed governor, many university VCs were appointed only in 2025.

In Rajasthan, the state government established half-a-dozen universities in 2012-13. Here, too, functioning was delayed. For instance, Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication, set up in 2012, started functioning seven years later, in the 2019-20 academic year.

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Several of the new institutions were agriculture universities – in Kota, Jodhpur and Jobner.

Most of these universities affiliate colleges across the state.

Apart from these, the state also started, Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice in 2012; Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner in 2023; and Mahatma Gandhi Divyang University and Baba Amte Divyang University in 2023.

But like in West Bengal, there were hiccups here as well. In 2023, graduates of Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice had filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court alleging their degrees in criminology and cyber security were not being accepted for recruitment in the state public exams. The Shri Karan Narendra Agriculture University VC was suspended in October, 2025.

Here, too, the state government claimed obstruction by the governor, especially in the case of the two universities for disabled students.

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NEP in Universities: Focus on specialisations

While states continued to set up traditional, multidisciplinary institutions, many also focused on specific sectors. After the National Education Policy (NEP) was adopted, several states set up skill universities.

Now Assam, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana all have skill universities. Several saw sports universities, with the first ones, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, coming up in 2019.

Others with similarly specialised focus include the Bihar Animal Sciences University (2017); Gujarat University of Transplantation Sciences (2015); Karnataka Folklore University (2011); Karnataka State Rural and Panchayati Raj University (2016); Sanchi University of Buddhist Indic Studies (2013); Maharashtra Marathi Bhasha Vidyapeeth (2024); and Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry (2011).

Gujarat University of Transplantation Sciences (GUTS) is the first university dedicated to transplantation and allied sciences in the world, its website claims.

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The Karnataka State Rural and Panchayati Raj University, now called Mahatma Gandhi Rural Development and Panchayati Raj University, started its academic activity in 2017 with five post graduate programmes. It now offers four-year undergraduate programmes in rural development and governance, public health and social work, agribusiness and food processing, geo-informatics and computer sciences, and innovation and startups.

During these years, many states also saw the establishment of law universities. Maharashtra’s three law universities, came up between 2014 and 2017. Three northeastern states of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Tripura, set up law universities as well.