K'taka among states faring better in higher education

Karnataka is one of the states which has witnessed an increase in the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in the higher education sector in the last three years and reached 26.5, higher than what has been recorded at the national level, according to a government report.

India witnessed a 2.5% increase in the GER in higher education sector in 2016-17 over that recorded in 2014-15, the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report, released here by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday, said.

The total enrolment in higher education has been estimated at 35.7 million (3.57 crore), with 19 million boys (1.9 crore) and 16.7 million girls (1.67 crore).

"GER in higher education in India is 25.2% in 2016-17, which is calculated for the 18-23 age group. The GER was 15% in 2014-15 and 24% in 2015-16," the report said.

Bengaluru topped the country for having the highest number of colleges (1,025) in a district, followed by Jaipur (635).

Karnataka has also figured in the list of top eight states in the number of colleges in India.

"The top eight states in terms of highest number of colleges in India are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh," the report said.

India has also witnessed improvement in the gender parity index with enrolment of girls per 100 boys climbing up to 94 in 2016-17 from 92 in 2014-15. "The girls constitute 46.8% of the total enrolment," the report said.

In Karnataka, the gender party index (GPI) has been pegged at 1.01, which means that the number of girl students enrolled in various higher education programme was higher than those of boys. A similar trend has been witnessed in several states. While GPI (per 100 boys) in Delhi came at 1.13, it is 1.28 in Goa, 1.03 in Uttar Pradesh and 1.45 in Chandigarh. The country has also witnessed an increase in the number of higher education institutions.

"There are 864 universities, 40,026 colleges and 11,669 standalone institutions," the report noted. A majority of the colleges (77.8%) are privately managed. Among 864 universities, 313 are privately managed.

"As much as 64% of the colleges are private unaided and 13.6% are private aided," the report said.

A total of 338 universities, including government ones, are located in rural areas, the report said.

The report shows that just 2.6% of the colleges offer PhD programmes and 36.7% colleges run post-graduate level programmes. Highest number of students are enrolled for undergraduate programmes.

"In the last five years, the GER of Muslims and other minority communities has been slow. From 4.15% GER of the Muslim youth (age group of 18 to 23 years) in 2012-13, it is just 4.9% in 2016-17," the report said.