Higher education stands on three pillars: merit, academic excellence, and equal opportunity. In an era where India’s higher education landscape has expanded significantly — with private universities now educating a substantial share of the country’s postgraduate and doctoral students — it is time to revisit an important policy question that touches the careers of thousands of young academics in Jammu & Kashmir.This is not an abstract or merely academic question. It shapes who gets shortlisted, how experience weightage is calculated, and ultimately, who is deemed fit to teach the next generation of students in government colleges and universities. The answer, this article argues, should rest on the quality and rigour of the institution and the work performed within it — not on whether its ownership is public or private.

The Changing Landscape Over the past decade, India’s higher education system has undergone a remarkable transformation. Many private universities are recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC), accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and in several cases have earned national and international recognition through reputable ranking frameworks such as the QS World University Rankings and the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

These are not marginal or unregulated institutions. They operate under statutory Acts passed by state legislatures, are subject to periodic UGC inspection, and must meet minimum faculty qualification norms, student-teacher ratios, infrastructure benchmarks, and research output expectations identical in substance to those applied to public universities. Many maintain structured academic systems, conduct quality-assured research, follow outcome-based education frameworks, and recruit faculty through rigorous, transparent, and often UGC-compliant selection processes.In short, the regulatory scaffolding that governs private universities today is considerably more robust than it was a generation ago, when the public perception of “private education” in India was shaped largely by unregulated diploma mills. That perception, however outdated, appears to linger in recruitment practice long after the underlying reality has changed.

If the degrees awarded by these universities are accepted as valid qualifications for employment — and they routinely are, forming the very basis on which candidates........

© Greater Kashmir