Indian higher education is at cross roads. Since independence India has seen proliferation in terms of number of institutes of higher learning. Unfortunately, this growth has often been accompanied with compromising quality. Besides internal management issues, the external regulation has also focused on inputs rather than process or output. Resultantly Indian higher education has lost its way in terms of creating new frontiers of knowledge. The emerging global competition & commitment under GATS is likely to make the situation further complex. It is high time the policy makers look seriously into all contours of quality of institutes of higher learning.