Gujarat leads private university boom with 58 new institutes in 15 years; India sees 480% surge

In the last 15 years, Gujarat has seen the sharpest growth in the number of private universities. Since 2010, 58 private institutions have come up in the state which enacted a law, the Private Universities Act, in 2009, much later than states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat has a total of 66 universities.

As per the University Grants Commission’s records, there are around 510 private universities in the country. As per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2010-11, there were just 87 private universities by then, implying an over 480% growth in 15 years. But their proliferation has been far from even. Karnataka was one of the forerunners, enacting a law in 2001. As per UGC data, the state now has 29 private universities.

In terms of the number of private universities added in the last 15 years, Gujarat is followed by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Each one has seen the count shoot up, indicating that the sharp growth is concentrated mainly in the western and northern parts of the country.

Although Uttarakhand enacted the Private University Act in 2023 – it was cleared by the governor in 2024 – the state has had private universities since 2010 and its count now stands at 23.

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Dominance of private universities

As per the UGC data, about 47% of the total number of universities in the country are private.

The table below shows the number of universities by management.

How many universities are there in India?

Of the total of 510 private universities, 25 are eligible for government grants under section 12B of the UGC Act; 50 are deemed-to-be universities – standalone institutions that were not set up through a university act, central or state; and 267 are state private universities.

The table below shows which states added the most private young universities, here defined as universities that are 15 years old or less.

Growth of young private universities

Gujarat growth story

The Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar was the first private university to be established in the state in 2003. From then till 2009, seven more private universities came up. During this period, several state universities and deemed universities were also added.

The period after 2009 saw exponential growth in the number of private players and the number is still rising. Gujarat is also the first state to have two foreign universities – the University of Wollongong and Deakin University – set up offshore campuses.

As per the AISHE 2021-22 – the latest available – Gujarat had a total of 2,48,551 students enrolled in private universities as against 2,34,490 in the central and state-funded universities.

With most new institutions located in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Vadodara,they have emerged as education hubs; some universities have come up in Surat as well.

“The state of Gujarat, in general, and the Ahmedabad metropolitan region, in particular, have gradually emerged as an important education hub of the entire country, housing several institutions of global repute,” said Sanjeev Vidyarthi, provost at Anant National University in Ahmedabad. “For instance, institutions like Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design (NID) have shaped India’s intellectual and creative landscape in important ways.”

Anant National University was established in 2016 with Ajay Pirmal, chairman of Piramal Group as the President. It now has students from 40 countries, 26 Indian states, 254 cities and seven union territories.

Further, universities also say that Gujarat’s stable policy environment, advanced infrastructure and responsive administration has helped.

“Gujarat, as an industrial hub, provides ample opportunities for students to gain real-world industry exposure, reinforcing entrepreneurship as a cultural virtue,” added Vidyarthi.

In addition to multidisciplinary institutions offering science, engineering, humanities or management courses, there are also very specialised universities.

These include Plastindia International University (PIU), UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Team Lease Skills University, and Gujarat Maritime University.

“PIU is one-of-its-kind [and] dedicated to plastics and sustainability, offering specialised technology and management courses and continuing education programmes for working professionals,” states the university website. It offers courses like BTech in plastics and polymer engineering and MBA in sustainability. UPL has two special industry-focused courses – chemical technology with four different specialisations and environmental science and technology.

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Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan

For different reasons, private universities have burgeoned even in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Rajasthan provides greater autonomy to private institutions; MP has a structured approach and UP benefits from space, students and proximity to the national capital.

Madhya Pradesh has 54 universities of which 53 came up after 2010 and, unlike Gujarat, they are scattered across various cities.

General VK Sharma, pro chancellor, Amity University, MP, said, “Amity University was established under the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Niji Vishwavidyalaya (Sthapna Avam Sanchalan) Adhiniyam, 2007, a legislative framework that allows private universities to be founded and operated within the state. This act provides a structured mechanism for the creation, governance, and regulation of private universities, aiming to ensure quality education while fostering academic freedom and innovation.”

The university was formally started in 2010 with just over 100 students. Today, it enrols 5,000 students across a diverse range of academic streams.

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Amity University was the second private university to be established in UP in 2005. The first one was Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Divyang University (Formerly Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University) at Chitrakoot in 2001. UP has about 48 private universities of which 43 came up in the last 15 years. Areas like Noida, Greater Noida, and Meerut have in the last few years seen a massive growth of universities. The Uttar Pradesh Private Universities Act came in 2019.

Rajasthan, the biggest state of India in terms of land area, enacted the Private Universities Act in 2005 and amended it in 2018. Of the 53 private universities in the state, 40 came up in the last 15 years.

Dheeraj Sanghi, former-vice chancellor, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur, said, “There are two reasons for choosing the state to establish the university. The promoters have an emotional connection with the state. The other is the kind of rules the state has. For example, Rajasthan has the most liberal policies around education. If you are confused between multiple states, you will choose Rajasthan because they are very liberal and they do not control you as much as other states do. In Rajasthan there are no quotas for the locals. The state also does not have fee control. Most other states have it.”

The university was established in 2011 by the 140-year-old JK Organisation (JKO).

When asked about the growth of the university, Sanghi said, “It is slower than we expected. We are currently around 1,100 students, we built infrastructure for about 1,700. In the last one year and this year we are growing pretty fast. Last year we had 400 admissions and this year we are expecting around 600.”

Most of Rajasthan’s private universities are concentrated around Jaipur.

Private Universities: Slow-growth states

While the southern states have some of the best-known private universities, their spread has been slower.

Andhra Pradesh has 11 of them and Telangana has 10. The first private universities to come up in AP were SRM University, Vellore Institute of Technology-AP and Centurion University of Technology and Management, all in 2017.

Times of India reported in March that the Education IT and Electronics minister Nara Lokesh introduced the Andhra Pradesh Private Universities Establishment and Regularization Amendment Bill 2025 in the legislative assembly and emphasised the need to attract private and foreign universities to the state.

Telangana State Private Universities Act was enacted in 2018. The first private universities to come up in the state were Malla Reddy University, Mahindra University, SR University, Ananthasagar, Woxsen University and Anurag University, all in 2020.

Further south, Tamil Nadu just has five private universities. The first ones to come up were Shiv Nadar University and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan University, in February 2021.

Kerala assembly passed the Kerala State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill only in March this year; it will now pave the way for private universities to come up in the state.

“The demand for private universities in Kerala has been a long-standing issue, with its impact becoming increasingly evident. International student migration from India is a growing trend and Kerala has become one of the top states in terms of students pursuing education abroad. The Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) 2023 estimates 2.5 lakh student emigrants from Kerala with Ernakulam having the highest number of emigrant students at 43,990. This sharp rise in student migration from Kerala has highlighted the state’s limited higher education opportunities,” stated a note by Centre for Public Policy Research.

As per CPPR, the debate over private universities in Kerala dates back more than a decade. In 2014, the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) proposed allowing private universities to address the gaps in higher education. However, PK Abdu Rabb, then education minister, rejected the proposal, citing the government’s disapproval.

Like in the southern states, private university growth in the east has been slow as well. West Bengal and Odisha have 11 each, all ‘young’ institutions.

In West Bengal, Techno India University at Salt Lake was the first to be established in 2012; Odisha’s first was Sri Sri University, set up in 2009.

Among the northeastern states, Assam and Sikkim have the most private universities, nine each. The Assam Don Bosco University in Guwahati was the first in the state, established in 2009. This March, the government introduced Bills to set up three new universities and proposed changes for existing ones.

In Sikkim, the first private university was Sikkim Manipal University. Nearly a decade later, the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University (ICFAI) was established in 2004. The other seven all came after 2014. The state has just one central university and two state universities.

Even Arunachal Pradesh has eight private universities; it has just one each of central, state university and deemed universities.