Across the globe, higher education is no longer just about knowledge—it’s about product, brand, and market. From the hallowed halls of Ivy Leagues to the sandstone campuses of Australia and the historic universities of Europe, higher education is being commodified. Degrees have become luxury goods, and universities are now global enterprises selling prestige, not just pedagogy.
The marketplace has infiltrated the academy. Rankings drive decisions. Branding trumps mission. Campuses are modeled after corporate offices. Education, once a noble pursuit, is now a business transaction—a high-priced ticket to elite social circles or global job markets.
A fragile financial model
International students—particularly those who pay full tuition—have become the financial lifeblood of many premier institutions. In the US, elite schools like Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Stanford University charge international students exorbitant fees to cross-subsidise their financial aid programmes and fund their research. The logic is simple. Domestic students, especially at public universities, pay less. Someone must make up the difference.
In the UK and Australia, entire university budgets hinge on international enrollments. A 2021 report by Universities UK showed that international students contributed over £28.8 billion to the British economy. In Australia, international student fees constitute nearly a quarter of total university revenue—at some institutions, it’s over 50 per cent. These students aren’t just learners; they’re walking revenue streams.
But this model is precarious. The COVID-19 pandemic served as a stress test—and a warning. When mobility halted, revenues dried up. Faculty were laid off. Courses were slashed. Infrastructure projects stalled. Now, with rising visa restrictions, shifting global power dynamics, and more students questioning the return on investment of expensive foreign degrees, the model is wobbling again.
The question becomes painfully clear: What happens if these paying students stop coming? For one, many universities risk financial crisis. But more importantly, the hollowness of the enterprise becomes visible. Are these institutions primarily places of learning—or are they global brands selling academic luxury to the highest bidder?
Also read: NEP 2020 offers a glorious future, but govt must release public university grants first
Degrees as status symbol
For decades, universities have leaned hard into branding. An Ivy League diploma does not just signal academic achievement—it is social currency. Universities advertise this, knowingly or not. Rankings, glossy campuses, “global exposure,” and corporate placement records are marketed like features of a high-end product.
In this model, education becomes transactional. The student is a consumer; the degree is a commodity. The classroom becomes a showroom. Admission brochures read like luxury catalogs, promising not transformation, but traction in elite networks.
This shift has downstream effects. Curricula are shaped by what sells, not what is needed. Popular majors in finance, data science, and business management balloon while departments like literature, philosophy, or anthropology shrink. Faculty are pressured to publish papers that boost rankings, not solve pressing local or global issues. Students, drowning in debt or pressure, chase credentials over competence, packaging themselves for the job market rather than preparing for life.
What is lost is the soul of education—the space to think critically, to explore without agenda, to understand one’s place in a complex world.
Vidyadhan, not vendor degrees
India stands at a crossroads. With its National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the country is attempting a bold rethink of what higher education should be. At its philosophical core, Indian civilisation has always treated knowledge as vidyadhan—a gift, not a commodity. Vidyadhan was considered the highest form of charity, emphasising that knowledge should be shared freely, for the public good, not for private gain.
Our ancient learning systems—from Takshashila to Nalanda—thrived not on fee structures or rankings but on intellectual inquiry, social purpose, and spiritual depth. Gurukuls did not issue diplomas; they nurtured character. Education was not a means to a salary; it was a means to self-realisation and service.
But now, even in India, we see private colleges mushrooming with little oversight. Education is being marketed like coaching classes. Universities promise “placement packages” like sales offers. Corporate recruiters are more important than scholars. Intellectual curiosity is replaced by job anxiety. If India simply imitates the Western model of university-as-marketplace, it will inherit all its problems—without any of the legacy endowments or brand capital.
Reclaim the public good
The role of the Indian state in higher education must be clear and uncompromising. Education is a public good, not a profit centre. The market has its place, but the foundation must be public. State and central governments must massively invest in high-quality, accessible public universities—not just in IITs, AIIMS and IIMs, but in creating regional and rural institutions too. India cannot afford an education system that creates a caste of elites in metros while marginalising students in small towns.
The NEP sets the direction, but without funding, autonomy, and real implementation, it will remain a vision without velocity. Public universities that serve 80 per cent of Indian students are underfunded and overburdened. Faculty shortages, poor infrastructure, and rigid bureaucratic controls stifle innovation and morale.
We must shift focus from producing degree-holders to cultivating future-ready citizens. This means integrating tech skills, digital literacy, AI fluency, and sustainability thinking into every curriculum. But it also means preserving the liberal arts, ethical reasoning, and cultural grounding. Viksit Bharat cannot be built on coding alone—it needs critical thinkers, ethical leaders, and empathetic citizens.
Build institutions, not brands
India should resist the temptation to play the global university branding game. Instead of chasing international rankings or mimicking Ivy League marketing, India must build institutions rooted in excellence, equity, and relevance. We do not need more billboards or better slogans—we need better faculty, better pedagogy, and better research.
India must prioritise research that solves problems of the nation—climate adaptation for farmers, healthcare for the underserved, governance innovation, rural development, and Indigenous knowledge preservation. It must champion teaching that nurtures Indian potential—multilingual, inclusive, and grounded in local contexts. Campuses should reflect Indian knowledge and values—not in token symbolism, but in real community engagement, accessibility, and service.
The world’s higher education model is facing a reckoning. India has a chance to lead with a different vision—one where education is not a transaction, but a trust. Where students are not customers, but co-creators. Where Vidyadhan, not vanity, defines success.
Education as a nation-building mission
In the end, how a society educates its people reflects what it values. Do we see citizens as mere economic units, or as human beings with potential for creativity, compassion, and leadership?
India has a rare opportunity to reclaim its own educational legacy while building a system for the 21st century. A system that balances employability with ethics, research with relevance, and innovation with inclusion.
We must remember that education is not a marketplace. It is a mirror of who we are—and a map to who we can become. Let us not sell our souls for a global ranking. Let us build an education system that the world wants to learn from—not just apply to.
Dr R Balasubramaniam is the Member-HR at the Capacity Building Commission, Govt of India. He was the former Rhodes professor at Cornell University, USA. He tweets @drrbalu. Views expressed are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
Well said. Not just policy makers and educationists even the larger citizenry (inclusive of parents and students) of our nation needs to ruminate on this.