BENGALURU: Bengaluru Urban has been crowned as the Indian district with the highest number of colleges (1,148), as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report for the year 2023-24, recently released by the Union Ministry of Higher Education.
Jaipur comes the closest with 742 colleges, followed by Pune (517), Hyderabad (465), Prayagraj (408), and Nagpur (354), the report says.
Karnataka emerged first in terms of college density, which is measured by the number of colleges per lakh eligible population (age group of 18-23 years). The median college density of the country was found to be 32; Karnataka’s was a whopping 69, followed by Telangana (56), Andhra Pradesh (51), Himachal Pradesh (51), Kerala (50), Rajasthan (47) and Tamil Nadu (43).
The state stood tall in terms of enrolment of foreign students, emerging as the top destination among all states. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Karnataka saw the enrolment of 7,914 foreign students across its public and private colleges.
Of this figure, five male and five female students comprised the 10 students in certificate courses, and nine males and 38 females comprised the 47 students in integrated courses. In total, 4,735 male and 3,179 female students made up the final figure. Punjab came closest to Karnataka’s feat, with 7,902 foreign student enrolments.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara took to X on Monday to celebrate the achievement. “Karnataka has earned recognition as the country’s leading education hub through its superior academic infrastructure. This is precisely why foreign students are choosing our state for their learning. It’s a proud moment for Kannadigas.
Research opportunities, strong infrastructure, AI-driven learning and student safety -- together they’ve earned the trust of students from India and abroad,” he wrote in a post shared on the platform.