Promise Versus Practice: Formulation and Implementation of Higher Education Reforms in India Soumya Mishra Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2021 © 2021 Soumya Mishra All Rights Reserved Abstract Promise Versus Practice: Formulation and Implementation of Higher Education Reforms in India Soumya Mishra The Government of India launched the National Higher Education Mission (NHEM) in 2013 to address concerns of severe funding shortages, poor governance structures, and weak quality assurance mechanisms in the country’s public state universities. NHEM provided funding incentives to states conditional on the implementation of multiple reforms in the university systems. This study answers important questions about the policy - why and by whom was NHEM formulated, and how well have the policy’s reforms been implemented in Indian states. The study uses a theoretical framework based on Advocacy Coalition Framework and institutional theory. Using qualitative methods, this dissertation examines the policy formulation process for NHEM at the federal level and explores the implementation of NHEM reforms through case studies of four Indian states. The study finds that NHEM was developed when the federal ministry of education saw a window of opportunity to push its reform agenda. However, the policy was created in a short span of time, in a top-down manner, and with insufficient involvement of stakeholders. NHEM was created by borrowing policy problems and solutions from prior government reports and layering them on a pre-existing funding structure. The resulting policy lacked a cohesive design and theory of action. Implementation of the policy’s reforms in states has been limited. The findings of the study suggest that implementation is thwarted by four challenges; the bureaucratic higher education culture in states; weak political will to decentralize the government’s powers; limited technical capacity; and inadequate financial resources. As a result, states have engaged in a variety of reform responses ranging from avoiding compliance, engaging in proforma implementation of reform requirements to receive federal funds; and reinterpreting reforms in ways that suit their existing cultures and structures. Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1. Introduction to The Research ........................................................................................ 1 National Higher Education Mission: Promise of a Paradigm Shift......................................... 3 Purpose of This Study ............................................................................................................. 6 Study Overview ....................................................................................................................... 9 Contributions of This Study .................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 2: Review of The Literature and Theoretical Framework ............................................... 18 Elements of Policy Formulation ............................................................................................ 18 Policy Formulation and Policy Change ........................................................................ 19 Policy Design ............................................................................................................... 21 Influence of New Public Management and Decentralization ....................................... 22 Policy Implementation .......................................................................................................... 26 Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches ...................................................................... 26 Reconciling Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches .................................................. 28 Implementation in Developing Countries .................................................................... 29 Implementation in a Federal Polity .............................................................................. 30 Politics and Higher Education in India .................................................................................. 32 i Patronage Politics ......................................................................................................... 33 Higher Education as a Source of Patronage .......................................................... 33 Creating and Sustaining Patronage Through Privatization ................................... 34 Organizational Change and Institutional Theory .................................................................. 35 Nature of Higher Education Organizations .................................................................. 36 Responses to Change .................................................................................................... 37 Organizational Response ...................................................................................... 38 Individual Response .............................................................................................. 39 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 3. Research Design and Methodology ............................................................................. 48 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 48 Study Design ......................................................................................................................... 52 State as a Unit of Analysis for Policy Implementation ................................................ 53 Case Selection ....................................................................................................................... 54 NHEM Funding Index .................................................................................................. 55 State Organizational Capacity Index ............................................................................ 57 Balancing the Sample on State Political Culture .......................................................... 59 Sampling Criteria ......................................................................................................... 61 Sampling Universities and Colleges ............................................................................. 64 Data Collection ...................................................................................................................... 65 Federal Case Study on Policy Formulation .................................................................. 65 ii Multiple State-Level Cases on Policy Implementation ................................................ 66 Analytic Approach ................................................................................................................ 68 Coding .......................................................................................................................... 68 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................... 69 Validity and Reliability ......................................................................................................... 70 Internal Validity ........................................................................................................... 70 External Validity .......................................................................................................... 71 Reliability ..................................................................................................................... 72 Chapter 4: Formulation of the National Higher Education Mission ............................................. 73 NHEM’s Main Features ........................................................................................................ 75 NHEM’s Timeline ................................................................................................................. 77 NHEM’s Formulation in 2012-2013 ..................................................................................... 79 Expected Increase in Higher Education Enrollment .................................................... 80 Need to Address Poor Quality and Reforms in State Higher Education ...................... 81 Political Will Thwarted by Legislative Gridlock ......................................................... 82 XIIth Plan Deadline ...................................................................................................... 85 Policy Design Process ........................................................................................................... 86 Developing Policy Goals and Instruments ..................................................................