NEW DELHI: Kerala, Telangana, Haryana and Assam are the top four states that have more female enrolment in the country as compared to other states, according to the government’s All India Survey for Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22 report.
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Chhattisgarh follow the four states.
The total female enrolment is 2,06,91,792, according to the report, which is the primary source of comprehensive statistics on the Higher Education scenario in the country.
According to the report, the total estimated enrolment in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in 2021-22 is 4,32,68,181, out of which 96,38,345 is in Universities and its Constituent Units, 3,14,59,092 is in colleges, and 21,70,744 in stand-alone institutions.
However, the six states that saw maximum student enrolment are Uttar Pradesh (69.73 lakh students), Maharashtra (45.78 lakh students), Tamil Nadu (33.09 lakh students), Madhya Pradesh (28 lakh students), West Bengal (27.22 lakh students), and Rajasthan (26.89 lakh students).
“These states account for 53.32% of total student enrolment,” the report said, adding that these states also house 51.4% of the total population of 18-23 years.
Uttar Pradesh also has a maximum number of colleges (8375). It is followed by Maharashtra (4692), Karnataka (4430), Rajasthan (3934), Tamil Nadu (2829), Madhya Pradesh (2742), Andhra Pradesh (2602), Gujarat (2395), Telangana (2083) and West Bengal (1514).
The report highlighted that female enrolment in higher education, as compared to men, has surged since 2014-15.
“The share of women enrolment is 55% of the increase in overall enrolment (91 lakh) since 2014-15. There has been a higher increase in women enrolment than men,” the report said.
While the Bachelor of Arts (BA) course attracts the maximum number of students – 1.13 crore students - 51 per cent female and 49 per cent male, the science discipline follows it. In the science stream, 49.18 lakh students are enrolled, of which 50.8% are female and 49.2% are male.
There are 44.08 lakh students enrolled in the Commerce discipline - of which 47.2% are female and 52.8% are male students, the report added.
For Engineering and Technology, overall enrolment in all undergraduate, postgraduate, M.Phil. and PhD levels is 41,31,303.
“Of these, the highest enrolment is in Computer Engineering followed by Mechanical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering etc,” the report added.
The Ministry of Education has been conducting AISHE since 2011, covering all higher educational institutions in India and imparting higher education in the country.
The survey collects detailed information on different parameters such as student enrolment, teachers’ data, infrastructural information, financial information, etc.
There are 45,473 colleges registered under AISHE belonging to the 328 universities (affiliating). Of these, 42,825 responded in the survey year 2021-22.
More than 60 per cent of colleges are general, 8.7 per cent of colleges are specialised in education or teacher education, 6.1 per cent of colleges are engineering and technology institutions, 4.3 per cent nursing colleges and 3.5 per cent medical colleges.
While 2.7 per cent colleges offer arts courses, 2.4 per cent are dedicated to pharmacy courses, 0.7 per cent science colleges and 1.4 per cent Sanskrit colleges.
“Out of the 42,825 responding colleges, 14,197 colleges are offering PG programmes, and 1,063 have PhD enrolments,” the report said.