Context

The Union Ministry of Education has released data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 2020-2021, which showed a 7.5% increase in student enrolments across the country as compared to 2019-20.

Key highlights of the survey:

• The data shows that total student enrolmentsreached 4.13 crore.
• The rise in distance education:
  • The survey also revealed that in the year when the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was a 7% rise in enrolmentsin distance education programmes.
• Increase in enrolment of students from weaker sections of society:
  • There were 2 lacks more SC studentsenrolled in 2020-21 compared to the previous survey.
  • About 3 lack more ST studentsand 6 lack more OBC students getting enrolled for higher education.
• Overall enrolment reduced:
  • While the increase was noted in absolute numberscompared to 2019-20, the proportion of SC students dropped to 14.2% in 2020-21 from 14.7% the previous year.
  • The proportion of OBC studentsalso dropped to 35.8% in 2020-21 from 37% the previous year. 
• Data for minority communities:
  • The proportion of Muslim studentsenrolling on higher education dropped from 5.5% in 2019-20 to 4.6% in 2020-21.
  • Also the proportion of ‘other minority students’dropped from 2.3% to 2% in the year 2020-21.
• Women participation:
  • Female enrolment in higher education programmeshad increased to 49% of total enrolments in 2020-21 compared to 45% the previous year.
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio: For all enrolments (as per the 2011 Census) increased by over 2 points to 27.3.

The popular courses:

• At Undergraduate level: The highest enrolment at the undergraduate level was in the Arts stream, followed by science and Engineering.
• At Postgraduate level: At this level, the highest number of enrolment was in the Social science stream.
• At STEM platform: The overall figures for STEM enrolments (at all levels of higher education) showed that women lagged behind men, who accounted for over 56% of enrolments in these fields.
• At PhD level:The most popular course was in the field of Engineering and Technology, followed by Science.

The Listing for Institutions:

• During 2020-21, the number of Universities has increased by 70, and the number of Colleges has increased by 1,453.
• The maximum increase came in State public universities and State private universities, increasing to 17 and 38 respectively,
• The number of universities increased followed by a rise of 14 in the number of Institutes of National Importance and an increase of 3 in the number of Central Universities. 

Data for Teachers:

• The number of teachers increased across higher education institutes, but the SC and ST teachers continued to be under-represented.
• At the All-India level:

• • 2% of teachers belong to the General category;
  • 2% to OBC
  • 1% to SC and
  • 5% to the ST category

• Minority community teachers: About 5.6% of teachers come from a Muslim minority group and 8.8% are from other minority groups.
• Women representation: There were 75 female teachers for every 100 males across institutes in the country.
• The teacher-pupil ratio:

• • It was at 27 for all universities, colleges and standalone institutions and at 24 if only regular mode is considered.
  • It concluded that the best teacher-pupil ratio was found in States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka