THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala recorded an increase of over 20% in enrolments to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in 2020-21 compared to the previous year. PhD enrolments also rose 16%, a detailed analysis of the data from the Education Ministry’s recently-released All India Survey on Higher Education 2020-21 has shown.
Significantly, the rate of rise in UG and PG enrolments in Kerala was higher than the all-India growth (UG: 6.5%; PG: 9.3%). PhD admissions in Kerala were four times higher than the national average (4.5%), said the data.
In fact, Kerala was ahead of four other south Indian states – Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh – in terms of increase in enrolments in the higher education sector in 2020-21, said the survey data.
A comparison with the previous year’s figures showed that only Telangana showed growth in enrolments. Admissions to UG and PG courses dropped by 4.9% and 3.18%, respectively, in Tamil Nadu in 2020-21, while Karnataka saw PhD enrolments plummet by nearly 27%. Andhra Pradesh saw a 10.1% dip in PG enrolments.
A section of education experts opined that the pandemic and restrictions on foreign travel in 2020-21 may be behind the rise in enrolments in Kerala. However, this does not explain why states like Tamil Nadu saw a decline in enrolments in the same period.
“The survey findings indicate that the bogey of the large-scale exodus of students from our state to neighbouring states is exaggerated. Of course, we have seen seats in a few colleges lying vacant this year but that is mostly a reflection of the recent trend of overseas migration of students,” Rajan Gurukkal, vice-chairperson of the Kerala State Higher Education Council, told TNIE.
Kerala top in gender parity
As per the survey, Kerala, which has 13.64 lakh students enrolled in the higher education sector, is first among states in Gender Parity Index. The state has 8.04 lakh female students enrolled in various levels of higher education against 5.59 lakh male students. As for the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), the state was ranked sixth. Kerala’s GER was 43.2, while the national average was only 27.3.