What determines the quality of higher education? A study of commerce graduates in Kerala (India)

The paper examines the quality of higher education in the Indian context in terms of subject knowledge (curriculum) coupled with analytical thinking and communication skills. The study identifies the factors that determine the quality of higher education and further explores whether there exists any difference in the quality of higher education based on the above three parameters between women and men and if so, in what way is this difference more revealing. In order to accomplish the aforementioned objectives, 416 students belonging to Commerce stream from 21 colleges affiliated under four universities in Kerala were selected as the respondents for an achievement test. The results indicate a low mean with a high variance in the learning outcomes. Although Kerala is one of the states in the country which has been remarkably successful in providing quality school education, when it comes to higher education, the State has not held its mark in providing quality education. Besides, an analysis based on the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique shows that a significant difference existing in the learning outcomes of male and female students related to analytical thinking is because of the coefficient differences. This implies that even with similar individual characteristics of students a significant difference exists, which can be attributed to the presence of gender discrimination in higher education.