All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for 2020-21

Context

Recently, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for 2020-21 was released by the Union Ministry of Education.

Probable Question

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).

Key Highlights of the Report

Enrolments

School enrolments

 A 7.5% increase in student enrolments across the country compared to 2019-20, with total student enrolments reaching 4.13 crore.

Enrolments in Distance Education Programmes

In 2020-21, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was a 7% rise in enrolments in distance education programmes.

Increase in Enrollment of SCs and STs in Higher Education 

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.

Muslim Students Enrolment 

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. 

Enrolment of Persons with Disabilities 

The number of students in the Persons with Disabilities category also dropped in 2020-21 to 79,035 from 92,831 the previous year.

Female Enrolment 

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

Most Popular Courses

Undergraduate Level

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.

Postgraduate level 

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.

PhD Level 

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).

STEM enrollment at all levels of higher education

Women lagged behind men, who accounted for over 56% of enrolments in these fields.

Universities and Colleges

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.

Faculty

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.

Also Read: Highlights of Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022

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