New Delhi, July 8 -- Higher education enrolment in India has increased by more than 1.08 crore since 2014-15, while female enrolment has risen by 42.2 per cent, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) reports for 2022-23 and 2023-24 released by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.
The reports show that total enrolment grew from 3.42 crore in 2014-15 to 4.46 crore in 2022-23 and further to 4.50 crore in 2023-24, marking a 31.5 per cent increase over the decade.
Female enrolment also recorded steady growth, rising from 1.57 crore in 2014-15 to 2.18 crore in 2022-23 and 2.24 crore in 2023-24. "It is commendable increase in female enrolment in higher education," the report said.
The survey also recorded higher participation from students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. Enrolment of SC students increased from 46.07 lakh in 2014-15 to 69.72 lakh in 2023-24, a rise of 51.4 per cent. ST enrolment grew from 16.41 lakh to 28.83 lakh during the same period, an increase of 75.7 per cent. OBC student enrolment rose from 1.13 crore to 1.80 crore, up 60.2 per cent.
The report said enrolment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses increased from 91.5 lakh in 2014-15 to 1.02 crore in 2023-24.
Faculty strength also expanded, reaching 17.32 lakh in 2023-24. Of the total, 55.1 per cent are men and 44.9 per cent are women. Female faculty numbers increased from 5.69 lakh in 2014-15 to 7.37 lakh in 2022-23 and 7.78 lakh in 2023-24.
AISHE, the government's main source of higher education statistics, gathers information on enrolment, faculty, staff, infrastructure and examination results through a web-based data collection system. In 2022-23, 56,180 of the 60,380 registered higher education institutions participated in the survey, while participation rose to 59,533 out of 64,756 registered institutions in 2023-24.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.