Case 02 · Research Impact Lab engagement
Designing a sustainable funding model for a zero-fee university
- Partner
- FUEL
- Place
- India
- Year
- 2026
The question
How can a mission-driven education organisation become a regulated university without compromising its zero-fee commitment?
A strategic teaching case that helps students and executives examine funding concentration, governance, organisational risk, and the long-term obligations created by university expansion.
Context
A university carries fixed infrastructure costs, academic-quality requirements, regulation, and multi-year responsibilities to enrolled students. Short-duration grants can support cohorts or programmes, but they do not automatically protect educational continuity across an entire degree.
Our contribution
- 01Structured the case around a clear leadership decision and the trade-offs behind it.
- 02Analysed mission, funding dependencies, stakeholder relationships, growth ambitions, and financial risk.
- 03Developed strategic alternatives for organisational structure, reserves, enrolment, partnerships, and academic independence.
- 04Translated the analysis into a case narrative, exhibits, discussion questions, and teaching guidance.
Methods
- Case research
- Organisational analysis
- Stakeholder analysis
- Scenario design
Outputs
- Published teaching case
- Analytical exhibits
- Teaching note
- Decision alternatives
What the work enabled
The resulting materials enable instructors to examine mission-sustainability trade-offs and compare funding and governance choices without prescribing one universal answer.
Documented result
The case and teaching note were published through the Cambridge Judge Business School Case Centre and distributed through The Case Centre.
Research Impact Lab engagement led by Soniya Gupta-Rawal.