Resilience and Social Justice in Indian Higher Education

Situated within the Indian context, this book examines the role of higher education in advancing equity, inclusion, and democratic epistemology and how universities function as contradictory spaces simultaneously reproducing social inequalities and enabling empowerment, mobility, and social transformation.Bringing together leading scholars from India, South Africa and UK, the chapters investigate the intersecting influences of caste, class, gender, tribe, religion, minority status, and disability on access, participation, and outcomes in higher education. The book highlights the experiences of first-generation learners and marginalized students whose educational journeys challenge structures of exclusion and redefine aspirations, belonging, and success. It offers empirically grounded and theoretically informed analyses of institutional cultures, policy frameworks, affirmative action, representation, and struggles for recognition. Positioning the Indian experience within broader global debates on higher education as a public good, the book further reflects on contemporary challenges posed by neoliberal reforms, privatization, technological change, and cultural polarization.Contributing to the unfinished project of building a more equitable and inclusive society, this book will be relevant to scholars, researchers and academics in the fields of sociology of education, higher education, educational policy and development and inclusive education.