A Governance Perspective on the Challenges in the implementation of the Gujarat Public Universities Act, 2023

Abstract

The Gujarat Public Universities Act, 2023 is an innovative legislation project aiming to reconcile systems of governance of all the public universities in Gujarat in respect of the National Education Policy of 2020. Even though the primary aim of the Act is to enhance the transparency, accountability and efficiency in administration, this has been seen to create a massive governance dilemma as a result of its application. The paper analytically looks at the structural, procedural and institutional limitations to the operationalization of the Act. The research paper has determined some of the key issues, including power concentration, institutional independence loss, bureaucracy, lack of stakeholder engagement and regulatory uncertainties, based on the governance theory, New Public Management (NPM) and institutional theory. The study also shows that the literature on implementation of reforms in the area of higher education in India is empirically and policy oriented. The paper proposes a comprehensive policy recommendations framework relying on qualitative policy analysis and secondary data, which revolves around the issues of decentralization, participatory governance, and digital transformation, and capacity building. The findings contribute to the debate on the reform of the higher education governance in the developing economies and provide some effective advices to the policymakers.

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