Feb 4, 2023
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Recently, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for 2020-21 was released by the Union Ministry of Education.
India has been witnessing a quantitative expansion of education but the qualitative front is lagging behind. How can this gap be addressed and how will the National Education Policy help in this endeavour? (250 words, 15 marks).
A 7.5% increase in student enrolments across the country compared to 2019-20, with total student enrolments reaching 4.13 crore.
In 2020-21, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was a 7% rise in enrolments in distance education programmes.
As per the AISHE 2020-21, there were 2 lakh more SC students who got enrolled compared to the previous year.
3 lakh more ST students and 6 lakh more OBC students getting enrolled for higher education.
While the increase was noted in absolute numbers compared to 2019-20, the proportion of SC students dropped to 14.2% in 2020-21 from 14.7% the previous year and the proportion of OBC students dropped to 35.8% in 2020-21 from 37% the previous year.
The proportion of Muslim students enrolling for higher education dropped from 5.5% in 2019-20 to 4.6% in 2020-21 with the proportion of ‘other minority students’ dropping from 2.3% to 2% in the same period.
The number of students in the Persons with Disabilities category also dropped in 2020-21 to 79,035 from 92,831 the previous year.
The female enrolment in higher education programmes had increased to 49% of total enrolments in 2020-21 compared to 45% the previous year.
The Gross Enrolment Ratio for all enrolments (as per 2011 Census) increased by over 2 points to 27.3.
The highest enrolment was seen at the undergraduate level, which accounted for 78.9% of all enrolments, followed by postgraduate level courses, which accounted for 11.4% of the year’s total enrolments.
Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra; Tamil Nadu; Madhya Pradesh; Karnataka and Rajasthan are the top 6 States in terms of number of students enrolled.
Also read: The Controversy over NAAC’s System for Assessing Higher Education
Bachelor of Arts programme remained the most popular UG course, which saw 104 lakh enrolments (52.7% women; 47.3% men), followed by Bachelor of Science courses, where too women outnumbered men.
Bachelor of Commerce programme followed B.SC., where women accounted for 48.5% enrolments.
In B.Tech and Bachelor of Engineering courses, women accounted for less than 30% of all enrolments.
The most popular courses remained in the Social Sciences stream, where women accounted for 56% enrolments in 2020-21, followed by Science courses, where women accounted for 61.3% of all enrolments.
Except for management courses at the PG-level, where enrolment of women stood at 43.1%, all other PG courses saw women outnumbering men.
The most popular course was in the field of Engineering and Technology, followed by Science; in both disciplines, women accounted for less than 50% enrolments (33.3% for Engineering and Tech; and 48.8% for Science).
Women lagged behind men, who accounted for over 56% of enrolments in these fields.
During 2020-21, the number of Universities has increased by 70, and the number of Colleges has increased by 1,453.
The maximum increase came in State public universities and State private universities, which saw an increase of 17 and 38 respectively, followed by a rise of 14 in the number of Institutes of National Importance, and an increase of 3 in the number of Central Universities.
Government universities constituting 59.1% of total universities contribute 73.1% of total enrolment, whereas the 40% private universities account for only 26.3% of total enrolment.
The 21.4% government colleges accounted for 34.5% total enrolments in 2020-21, whereas the rest 65.5% enrolments were seen at private aided colleges and private unaided colleges put together.
The number of students graduating from higher education programmes increased to 95.4 lakh in 2020-21 from 94 lakh the previous year
The highest graduation was seen in Arts courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra; Karnataka; Rajasthan; Tamil Nadu; Madhya Pradesh; Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the top 8 States in terms of number of colleges.
The number of teachers increased across higher education institutes, SC and ST teachers continued to be under-represented.
At All-India level, 56.2% teachers belong to General category; 32.2% to OBC; 9.1% to SC and 2.5% to ST category.
About 5.6% teachers come from Muslim minority group and 8.8% are from other minority groups.
There were 75 women teachers to every 100 male ones across institutes in the country.
The teacher-pupil ratio was at 27 for all universities, colleges and standalone institutions and at 24 if only regular mode is considered.
The best teacher-pupil ratio was found in States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
What is AISHE? The Ministry of Education has been conducting the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2011, covering all higher educational institutions located in the country. The annual survey gives an overarching picture of student enrolment and the number of higher education institutions in the country. The survey collects detailed information on different parameters such as student enrolment, teachers’ data, infrastructural information, financial information, etc. For the first time, in AISHE 2020-21, the higher education institutions, or HEIs, have filled the data online through the Web Data Capture Format (DCF) developed by the Department of Higher Education with the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC). |
Also Read: Highlights of Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022
The Ministry of Education has been conducting the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2011, covering all higher educational institutions located in the country.
The All India Survey on Higher Education is an annual survey that gives an overarching picture of student enrolment and the number of higher education institutions in the country.
It is an annual web-based survey that collects detailed information on different parameters such as student enrolment, teachers’ data, infrastructural information, financial information, etc.
Recently, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for 2020-21 was released by the Union Ministry of Education.
As per the report, a 7.5% increase in student enrolments across the country compared to 2019-20, with total student enrolments reaching 4.13 crore.
News Source: The Hindu
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