International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education (INT-JECSE) DOI: 10.9756/INT-JECSE/V14I2.536 ISSN:1308-5581 Vol 14, Issue 02, 2022 4801 EVALUATING THE DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION:A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PUBLIC VS PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN MAHARASHTRA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO QUALITY EDUCATION MODEL Dr. Mansi Khadke*, Dr. Balkrishan Sangvikar, Dr. Dhanaji S. Jadhav and Dr. Pallavi Ingale 1 Post Doctoral Fellow, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Department of Management and Sciences, India 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0889-5473 2 Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Department of Management and Sciences, India 2 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3053-25726759a74 3 Assistant Professor, Yashavantrao Chavan Institute of Science, Department of Statistics, India 3 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0636-0755 4 Assistant Professor, Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, Centre for Management Education, India 4 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6944-6834 1 mansikhadke@gmail.com, 2 sangvikarbv@gmail.com, 3 dhanajijadhav757@gmail.com and 4 prof.pallavingale@gmail.com ABSTRACT From ancient times, India is well known for its scholars and talent. Even today, India is unceasingly progressing in education field. In growth story of India, higher education has always played a vital role. Higher education provide knowledge, develop the ability of students and give them a broader perspective of world and becomes input to the growth and development of country. Though India’s central and state governments are making seamless efforts to make Indian Higher Education System world class, it is always bogged down by many challenges. So, the question arises whether students are getting good quality education and what are the determinants ensuring thisquality. In same context, this research work focuses on identifying factors affecting quality of higher education and the extent to which these factors affect the quality. A comparative study is been performed to determine the status of Public and Private Universities in Maharashtra. Researcher has taken The Oregon Quality Education Model as base to define quality indicators while designing questionnaire. For data analysis, basic tools like table, frequency, percentage, graphs are used whereas for hypothesis testing Descriptive Statistics, Regression Analysis and t-test are used. The study concludes that, Industry involvement, Classroom Feedback, Status of Institute, Leadership that facilitates student, Infrastructure/learning resources, Teacher’s Professional development program, teaching methodology, Students Engagement in academic & extra-curricular activities, Teacher’s Research & Industry Collaboration, Participation of students in research activities are the determinants of quality of higher education. Also, Private Universities maintain better quality of education than Public Universities. Keywords: The Oregon Quality Education Model, State Public Universities, State Private Universities, Quality Indicators 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Higher Education in India: Indian Higher Education sector has come a long way since last 70 years post-independence, with some strengths and weaknesses. India has witnessed tremendous growth in number of universities (Public/Private/Deemed) and institutes. After China and USA, India has world’s 3 rd largest Higher Education System in terms of number of students. Indian government is taking aggressive initiatives to boost the quality of Higher Education System by means of various programs like Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Program, Global Initiative for Academics Network, All India Survey on Higher Education, National Institutional Ranking Framework, etc. Government is also planning to revitalize Infrastructure and Systems in Education and providing Graded Autonomy to Universities & Colleges. Government has selected 20 universities from public and private sector and helping them to attain world-class standards of teaching and research.Besides, academic experts from India are considered among the best in the world and are in great demand. Yet, the weaknessesin the Higher Education System noticeablyovershadow the strengths. The Gross Enrolment Ratio for higher education in India is very less, 25%, as compare to developed and other big developing countries. And even in current GER, there is no equity as far as gender and caste are considered. A disparity is also present in location (leading universities and institutes are located in a metropolitan and urban area) and density (number of colleges per lakh eligible population) of institutes. Quality of education is yet another issue for higher education. The sector is also facing the problem of poor infrastructure as there is lack of budget and corruption. Those universities/institutes having sufficient funds, even their infrastructure is not as per global standards. Number and quality of faculty is a posing challenge for long time in the sector. Curriculum of most of the courses is outmoded and unrelated to the requirements of industry focusing just on theory and lagging practical angle. That can be the prime reason for less employability of