Women outnumber men in MPhil, PG courses

Even as enrolment in higher education declined in Odisha, women students outnumbered their male counterparts in opting for MPhil and PG courses in the State.

BHUBANESWAR: Even as enrolment in higher education declined in Odisha, women students outnumbered their male counterparts in opting for MPhil and PG courses in the State.
The latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) revealed that 42,541 women students have enroled for PG course and 638 for MPhil against 40,536 and 523 male students respectively in 2018-19.
There has been a steady rise of women students in higher courses in general category. While 25,000 women students were enroled in PG and 549 in MPhil courses against 24,193 and 365 male in 2013-14, the number of enrolment of women in PG was 33,556 and MPhil was 777 as compared to 32,749 and 471 male students in 2016-17.   

The number of total enrolment of students in degree colleges has, however, declined over the years. While 7,27,684 students were enroled in 2016-17, the enrolment has come down to 7,17,625 in 2018-19.
The number of enrolment of women through distance mode this academic year is also more than their male counterparts. As many as 11,671 women and 9,520 male students have enroled for PG course. For PhD, 2,052 male and 1670 women students have enrolled.

Vice-chairman of State Higher Education Council Prof Ashok Das said the rising number of women students in higher education is a good sign as efforts made in the past to encourage women for education are being paid back.

“This is an indication that the human development index is in good shape in the State as the UN human development index has a strong correlation with female literacy and growth of female education. Incentivisation of education for women can be attributed to the rise in their enrolment,” he said.
The enrolment of students in SC and ST category has also soared in the last five years. While 86,779 SC and 67,849 ST students were enrolled in 2013-14, the number of enrolment of SC and ST students is 1,62,608 and 1,27,812 respectively in 2018-19.

The AISHE 2018-19, released by the HRD Ministry recently revealed that Odisha is among nine states which have enroled maximum number of students in polytechnics. While Tamil Nadu has highest enrolment of 3.34 lakh students, Odisha stood at fifth place with 0.98 lakh students.The State has 28 universities, including 15 State public universities and five institutes of national importance.

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