Published Paper Details:

The purpose of this study is to compare public and private institutions of higher education (HE) with respect to quality of education (QE). The study comprises both empirical aspects by examining a wide range of variables such as Academic Performance Score, Infrastructure Score, Governance Score, Teaching Effectiveness, Faculty Qualification, Administrative Support, Curriculum Quality, Career Support and Stakeholder Satisfaction in Surat city of Gujarat, and subjective insights regarding the perceived strengths and weaknesses of public and private institutions, particularly with reference to learning environment, institutional growth and overall educational effectiveness. Statistical techniques like Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square test were used to examine differences in QE and stakeholder's satisfaction across public and private institution. The results demonstrate significant differences between both institutions. Private institutions excelled in infrastructure and modern teaching methods, while public institutions stood out for affordability and faculty expertise. An ordinal regression model was used to identify predictors of perceived QE, with ridge regression addressing multicollinearity among variables. Infrastructure, teaching effectiveness, curriculum quality and administrative support emerged as the strongest predictors of overall QE across institutions. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and educators, highlighting areas needing strategic focus to enhance QE and competitiveness in both sectors.