By Rudra Narayan Sahoo: In the higher education enrollment, India is registering progress, but still it has to go a long way. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher education in India is at 23.6%, which is calculated for 18-23 years of age group. GER for male population at all India level is 24.5% while GER for female population at all India level is 22.7%. Total Enrolment in Higher Education has been estimated to be 33.3 million with 17.9 million boys and 15.4 million girls. Girls constitute 46% of the total enrolment, as per All India Survey for Higher Education (AISHE) 20014-15 report.
AISHE 20014-15 mentioned that there is a gradual increase in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in almost all the States in the country over the year. Chandigarh posted the highest GER in higher education in India with 56% among states and Union Territories in India. Tamil Nadu has 44%, Delhi 43% and Manipur 38% GER in higher education. Among states in India, Bihar and Jharkhand are at the bottom with GER in higher education of 13% each.
Out of the total 3,32,72,722 students enrolled in higher education in India at the age group of 18-23 years of age, a vast majority of them are under graduates with 79.9%. Nearly 11.45% students are enrolled at Post Graduate levels, which is approximately 38.1 lakh students. At Post Graduate levels, 49% are male and 51% are female. Only 0.34% students are enrolled at PhD courses during 2014-15. PhD levels 60% are male while 40% female.
Uttar Pradesh comes at number one with the highest student enrolment followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
The top 7 states in terms of highest number of colleges in India are as followed: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. College density, i.e. the number of college per lakh eligible population (population in age-group 18-23 years) varies from 7 in Bihar to 58 in Puducherry as compared to All India average of 27.
Distance enrolment constitutes 11.7% of the total enrolment in higher education, of which 46% are female students. At all‐India level there are merely 64 female teachers per 100 male teachers. Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) in Universities and Colleges is 24.
Over the last few years GER in higher education is rising as GER was 23% 2013-14. The government of India has set a target to increase GER to 25.2% in 2017-18 and further to 30% in 2020-21.
