Enrollment of female students in higher education up by 32% in 7 years: Report

New Delhi: Between 2014-15 to 2021-22, there has been a 32 per cent increase in the enrollment of female students in higher education, rising from 1.57 crore in 2014-15 to 2.07 crore in 2021-22, a survey by the ministry of education has revealed.

The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22 showed that between 2020-21 and 2021-22, there has been a rise from 2.01 crore to 2.07 crore.

“Gender Parity Index (GPI), the ratio of female GER (General Enrollment Ratio) to male GER is 1.01 in 2021-22. GPI has continued to be above 1 since 2017-18 i.e., female GER continues to be more than male GER for the fifth consecutive year,” the government said on the report, which was released late Thursday night by the ministry.

The report also stated that the total enrollment in higher education increased from 4.14 crore in 2020-21 to 4.33 crore in 2021-22. “There has been an increase of around 91 lakh in the enrolment from 3.42 crore (26.5 per cent) in 2014-15,” the government said.

The GER increased to 28.4 in 2021-22 from 23.7 in 2014-15, which the government said was based on the 2011 population projections for the 18-23 years age group. “Female GER has increased to 28.5 in 2021-22 from 22.9 in 2014-15,” the government said in a release.

The study also revealed that in higher education, 78.9 per cent of the total students are enrolled in undergraduate courses while 12.1 per cent are enrolled in postgraduate courses.

Among disciplines at undergraduate level, enrollment is the highest in Arts (34.2 per cent), followed by science (14.8 per cent), Commerce (13.3 per cent) and Engineering and Technology (11.8 per cent). In postgraduate courses, most students are enrolled in Social Science (21.1 per cent) followed by Science (14.7 per cent).

Enrollment in PhD courses, too, increased by 81.2 per cent – from 1.17 lakh in 2014-15 to 2.12 lakh in 2021-22.