Prime Highlights
- Women continued to outnumber men in India’s higher education enrolment.
- STEM enrolment crossed 1.02 crore, with women making up 44% of students.
Key Facts
- AISHE collects data on student enrolment, teachers, infrastructure and examination results.
- More than 90% of registered higher education institutions participated in the survey.
Background
The Union Ministry of Education has said there’s been a steady rise in higher education around India, with something like nearly 4.5 crore students enrolled in the 2023-24 academic year. Women continued to outnumber men in higher education, while enrolment also increased among students from socially disadvantaged communities. The ministry released the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) reports in the second week of July.
The survey collected information from colleges and universities on student enrolment, teachers, infrastructure and examination results. More than 90% of registered higher education institutions participated in the survey.
The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which measures the share of people aged 18 to 23 studying in higher education, improved to 30. GER among women was also increased to 31.2, which indicates that an increasing number of women are joining higher education institutions than previously. The GPR index is still maintained above 1, for the seventh year in a row, which denotes that the women’s enrolment ratio is still higher than that of men.
There were also notable improvements in SC/ST/OBC students’ participation. The enrolment ratio and GER of these students have been improved throughout the last decade, showing increased access to higher education.
The participation in STEM education has also increased, as the enrolment of students has crossed 1.02 crore. 44% of STEM students are females, which is a remarkable increase within the past decade.
Also, the teacher’s enrolment in higher education institutions has increased to 17.32 lakh. Males remain the majority in the faculty; however, the number of women teachers has shown a significant increase.
