New Delhi — In a move that indicates his government plans to pursue a marked departure from India’s traditional, socialist approach to higher education, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced his support for tuition increases and private-sector participation in the university system.

Speaking on Thursday, Mr. Singh did not specify how much tuition should rise, but India’s higher-education regulator has recommended an increase of 20 percent. Tuition varies by university. At the University of Delhi, for example, the annual fee for a B.A. degree is $100 to $120, and only 5 percent of the university’s revenue is generated through fees.

At a meeting to discuss India’s education agenda for the next five-year plan, which starts this year, Mr. Singh said that the tuition increases should be gradual and reasonable, to ensure that “no student is denied education because of his or her financial constraints.”

The prime minister also said that the government must seriously examine the role of private initiative in supplementing public funds for higher education. “We obviously cannot rely on the private response alone, but we should welcome it as a supplement,” he said, adding that many Indian states have developed good private institutions.

Mr. Singh, who has sharply criticized the quality of Indian higher education, has recently announced other higher-education initiatives, including plans to open 40 more universities. —Shailaja Neelakantan