New Delhi: Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education has jumped to 24.5% in 2015-16 as compared to 10.0% in 2004-05, as per All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) of Ministry of HRD. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is defined as total enrolment in higher education as percentage of the population in the 18-23 years age group.
The Minister of State (HRD), Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, informed this yesterday in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question. The minister said that to enhance the percentage of students to continue studies in institutions of higher education, the government has taken a host of measures such as opening of new institutions, scholarship and interest subsidy on educational loans availed by the students.
Dr Pandey highlighted that extensive use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications is also being made in furtherance of higher education in the country. During the Twelfth Five Year Plan a new scheme called the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has been launched, which aims at achieving equity, access and excellence in state higher education system. The scheme supports components such as upgrading autonomous colleges to universities, clustering colleges to establish a university, setting up of new professional colleges in un-served and underserved areas as well as providing infrastructure grants to universities and colleges to scale up capacity.
