AISHE 2023-24 Report: Higher education GER touches 30%, higher among women; enrolment rises to 4.50 crore

The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023-24 report, released by the ministry of education, today, showed that there is a 30% jump in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, while the enrolment has gone up to 4.50 crore, and female GER recorded at 31.2.

According to the AISHE report, there was an increase in the participation of HEIs in four years. A total of 56,180 out of 60,380 registered HEIs participated in the 2022-23 survey, while 59,533 out of 64,756 registered HEIs participated in 2023-24. The participation rate was over 90 per cent for both years.

The AISHE is the main source of official statistics and is also a vital source of information for policy making, planning and monitoring the higher education sector.

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High level of higher education participation

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), the ratio between student enrolment and the total population of 18-23 age group, using the population projection from 2011) went up from 23.7 during the 2014-15 period to 29.5 for 2022-23 and 30 for 2023-24. Female GER increased from 22.9 in 2014-15 to 30.2 in 2022-23 and 31.2 in 2023-24.

There was an improvement in the GER of scheduled tribes (ST) students from 13.5 in 2014-15 to 22.8 in 2023-24 and also the GER of scheduled castes (SC) students improved in the same period from 18.9 in 2014-15 to 27.8 in 2023-24. The GER of females was 1.08 times the GER of males in 2023-24, which is the gender parity index (GPI). The GPI has stayed above 1.0 in each of the last seven years.In each of the last 7 years the GPI has been higher than 1.0.

Increase in STEM enrolment

The enrolment in higher education increased from 3.42 crore in 2014-15 to 4.46 crore in 2022-23 and 4.50 crore in 2023-24, representing a 31.5 per cent increase since 2014-15. Female enrolment increased from 1.57 crore in 2014-15 to 2.18 crore in 2022-23 and 2.24 crore in 2023-24, an increase of 42.2 per cent.

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SC student enrolment increased from 46.07 lakh in 2014-15 to 69.72 lakh in 2023-24, while ST enrolment rose from 16.41 lakh to 28.83 lakh. OBC enrollment increased from 1.13 crore in 2014-15 to 1.80 crore in 2023-24.

STEM enrolment increased from 91.5 lakh in 2014-15 to 1.02 crore in 2023-24. During the same period, the percentage of female students enrolled in STEM grew from 38.4 per cent to 44 per cent. In 2023-24, the total number of faculty and teachers increased to 17.32 lakh, of which 7.78 lakh were female teachers.