Onwards and upwards! Survey on higher education reveals India witnessed improvement in Gender Parity Index
The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20 released on Thursday showed that the country witnessed significant improvement in Gender Parity Index (GER). The report provided key performance indicators on the current status of higher education in the country.
Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank noted that there has been a growth of 11.4% in the student enrolment in the last five years from 2015-16 to 2019-20.
The rise in female enrolment in higher education during the period is 18.2%. He emphasized that the continuous focus given by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on education of girls, women empowerment and empowerment of socially backward classes are well reflected by the increased participation of women, SCs and STs population in Higher Education as shown by the report.
Minister of State Shri Sanjay Dhotre said, “The results published in this report are indicators of the success of the policies adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the higher education sector of the Country. I hope this report will help our policy makers to further improve the higher education scenario of the country.”
Secretary, Higher Education Amit Khare said that this report is the 10th in the series of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) annually released by D/o Higher Education. The continuous rise in the enrolment, number of institutions, gender parity is a part of our country’s major move towards improving access, equity and quality in light of National Education Policy 2020, he said.
Key features of All India Survey on Higher Education Report 2019-20
1. Total Enrolment in Higher Education stands at 3.85 crorein 2019-20 as compared to 3.74 crore in 2018-19, registering a growth of 11.36 lakh (3.04 %). Total enrolment was 3.42 crore in 2014-15.
TOTAL ENROLMENT
2. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), the percentage of students belonging to the eligible age group enrolled in Higher Education, in 2019-20 is 27.1% against 26.3% in 2018-19 and 24.3% in 2014-2015.
GROSS ENROLMENT RATIO
3. Gender Parity Index (GPI) in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 1.01 against 1.00 in 2018-19 indicating an improvement in the relative access to higher education for females of eligible age group compared to males.
4. Pupil Teacher Ratio in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 26.
5. In 2019-20: Universities: 1,043(2%); Colleges: 42,343(77%) and stand-alone institutions: 11,779(21%).
COLLEGES
6. 3.38 crore Students enrolled in programmes at under-graduate and post-graduate level. Out of these, nearly 85% of the students (2.85 crore) were enrolled in the six major disciplines such as Humanities, Science, Commerce, Engineering & Technology, Medical Science and IT & Computer.
7. The number of students pursuing PhD in 2019-20 is 2.03 lakh against 1.17 lakh in 2014-15.
8. The Total Number of Teachers stands at 15,03,156 comprising of 57.5% male and 42.5% female.
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