For decades, students from Jammu and Kashmir have been forced to leave the region in search of quality higher education. The Jammu and Kashmir Private Universities Act, 2026, seeks to reverse this trend, but whether it can transform the system or merely expand it remains an open question. The legislation marks a decisive policy shift from an exclusively state-driven model to a mixed higher education system, responding to a long-standing demand from educators, civil society, and industry stakeholders. However, a close reading of the legislation reveals a careful balance between attracting investment and retaining regulatory control.

It is a progressive reform aimed at expanding higher education, but it risks becoming a regulatory compromise that prioritises expansion over transformation. The Act does not fundamentally resolve structural deficiencies such as outdated curricula, weak industry linkages, and limited research output, but instead shifts the burden to private actors without ensuring robust academic standards. While the introduction of private and foreign institutions is intended to curb educational out-migration, the absence of strong accountability mechanisms may result in the proliferation of degree-granting institutions rather than centres of excellence.

The central weakness of the Act lies in its implicit assumption that increasing the number of institutions will automatically improve educational outcomes. However, experiences from other Indian states demonstrate that rapid privatisation, without stringent quality control, often leads to the commercialisation of education rather than academic excellence.........

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