80% increase in ST female student enrolment since 2014-15: AISHE 2021-22

NEW DELHI: The total enrolment in higher education has increased to almost 4.33 crore in 2021-22 from 4.14 crore in 2020-21, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-21 report. There has been an increase of around 91 lakh in the enrolment from 3.42 crore (26.5%) in 2014-15, the report said.

Of the total enrolled, the number of female students increased to 2.07 crore in 2021-22 from 2.01 crore in 2020-21, the report showed. The female enrolment saw an increase of around 50 lakh from 1.57 crore (32%) in 2014-15.

The report released by the Ministry of Education showed that of the 4.33 crore students enrolled, 66.23 lakh belonged to SC category, 27.1 lakh ST category and 1.63 crore to OBC category.

The enrolment of SC students increased by 44% from 46.07 lakh in 2014-15 while the enrolment of SC female students has increased by 51% to 31.71 lakh in 2021-22 from 29.01 lakh in 2020-21 and 21.02 lakh in 2014-15, the survey report released.

The enrolment of ST students has increased to 27.1 lakh in 2021-22 from 16.41 lakh in 2014-15 marking an increase of 65.2%. In case of ST female students, there has been a significant increase of 80% with 13.46 lakh in 2021-22 from 12.21 lakh in 2020-21 and 7.47 lakh in 2014-15.

The enrolment of OBC students has also increased by 45% from 1.13 crore in 2014-15. OBC female student enrolment has increased to 78.19 lakh in 2021-22 from 52.36 lakh in 2014-15 marking an overall increase of 49.3%.

In case of minority students, enrolment has increased to 30.1 lakh in 2021-22 from 21.8 lakh in 2014-15 (an increase of 38%). Female minority student enrolment has increased to 15.2 lakh in 2021-22 from 10.7 lakh in 2014-15 (42.3% increase).

Gross enrolment ratio

“GER has increased to 28.4 in 2021-22 from 23.7 in 2014-15 [as per 2011 population projections for 18-23 years age group]. Female GER has increased to 28.5 in 2021-22 from 22.9 in 2014-15,” said an official statement from MoE.

On the other hand, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of SC students has increased to 25.9 in 2021-22 from 18.9 in 2014-15, while GER of female SC students has increased to 26 in 2021-22 from 18.1 in 2014-15. Moreover, the ratio of ST students has increased to 21.2 in 2021-22 from 13.5 in 2014-15. The GER of Female ST students has shown an even more spectacular increase to 20.9 in 2021-22 from 12.2 in 2014-15.

Course-wise enrolment

As per AISHE 2021-22 report, about 78.9% of the total students are enrolled in undergraduate level courses and 12.1% are enrolled in postgraduate level courses. Among UG courses, enrolment is highest in arts (34.2%), followed by science (14.8%), commerce (13.3%) and engineering and technology (11.8%). Among streams at postgraduate level, maximum students are enrolled in social science (21.1%) followed by science (14.7%). PhD enrolment has increased by 81.2% to 2.12 lakh in 2021-22 compared to 1.17 lakh in 2014-15. Female PhD enrolment has doubled to 0.99 lakh in 2021-22 from 0.48 lakh in 2014-15.

Of total enrolment in 2021-22 in UG, PG, PhD and MPhil programmes, 57.2 lakh students are enrolled in science stream, with female students (29.8 lakh) outnumbering male students (27.4 lakh), the report further said.

Talking about the institute-wise enrolment, the survey report showed that the majority of the enrolment is in government universities. The government universities constitute 58.6% of total universities and contribute 73.7% of total enrolment whereas the private universities account for 26.3% of total enrolment.

The availability of different infrastructural facilities in university in 2021-22 also increased as follows:

• Libraries (99%)
• Laboratories (88%)
• Computer centers (93%)
• Skill development Centre (71%)
• Play Ground (91%)

The AISHE report 2021-22 further said that the total number of universities or university level institutions registered is 1,168, colleges 45,473 and standalone institutions 12,002. In all, 341 institutes have been established since 2014-15. The total number of teachers in 2021-22 is 15.98 lakh including 56.6% male and 43.4% female. Female faculty have increased to 6.94 lakh in 2021-22 from 5.69 lakh in 2014-15 (an increase of 22% since 2014-15).