BENGALURU: Bengaluru Urban district has the highest density of colleges in the country, according to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE).
The city, which is known for its startup culture and multinational technology parks, has 1,106 colleges. Jaipur has 703 colleges, Hyderabad 491, Pune 475 and Prayagraj 398, AISHE stated in its recently released report for 2021-22.
Karnataka tops the list of colleges in per lakh eligible population in the age group of 18-23, called college density. “Karnataka (66), Telangana (52), Andhra Pradesh (49), Himachal Pradesh (47), Puducherry (53) and Kerala (46) are the states/UTs which have a high number of colleges per lakh population,” the report stated.
In all, Karnataka has 4,430 colleges, securing the third position after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Yet, Karnataka has only 704 government colleges.
Interestingly, the state’s record is impressive as regards the number of teachers from the OBC category, securing second position with 56,472 individuals. Tamil Nadu has 1,47,003 teachers from that category.
Despite having a high college density, the male-female student enrollment ratio in Karnataka is low. Among the top 10 states, Karnataka ranks eighth with 12,58,004 male and 11,78,536 female students. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are placed better.
The estimated student enrolment at various levels such as postgraduate (PG), Masters, Ph.D and diploma courses in the past five years has been on the decline compared to the academic year 2020-21. However, because of other disciplines, the state’s gross enrollment increased from 23.4% in the previous year to 25.8%.
Karnataka has 9.4% of the total teachers in the country. Of the total teachers from the Muslim community, Karnataka has 10.4%.
The survey highlighted that among the top six states in terms of enrolment, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have the best pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 14 and 15 each in all institutions, including universities and colleges.
Based on the responses from universities that participated in the survey, AISHE reported that under the foreign category, students from 170 countries come to India to pursue higher education.
Most of them are from neighbouring countries. Nepal’s share is 28%, followed by Afghanistan’s 6.7%. Karnataka tops the list with the highest number of foreign students pursuing PG, PhD, M.Phil, UG, Diploma and PG Diploma courses.
Survey highlights
Karnataka and TN have the best Pupil-Teacher Ratio
Karnataka ranks 2nd in OBC teachers (56,472)
Gross enrollment rises from 23.4% to 25.8%