Higher education witnesses slow rate of increase in GER

The gross enrollment ratio (GER) of students in higher education continues to grow at a very slow rate, even though the number of universities in the country increased from 903 in 2017-18 to 993 in 2018-19.

The Modi government is hoping to take GER in higher education to 30% by 2022 with various policy interventions and initiatives. However, the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report released on Saturday, estimated the GRE to be 26.3% in 2018-19 from 25.8% in 2017-18, showing an increase in the GER by just 0.5%.

The total enrollment in higher education has been estimated to be 3.74 core in 2018-19, with 1.92 crore students being men and 1.82 core women constituting 48.6% of the total enrollment.

The overall GER in higher education was calculated for the 18-23 age group. The annual survey is conducted by the higher education department of the HRD ministry.

The GER of those belonging to scheduled castes was estimated to be 23% while it was pegged at 17.2% for those belonging the scheduled tribes, as compared to the national GER of 26.3%.

The gender gap also continues to exist in the university and colleges, with the AISHE report noting that ratio of men’s enrollment was higher than that of the women at almost every level, except in MPhil, postgraduate and certificate programmes.

“Student enrolment at undergraduate level has 51% men and 49% men. Enrolment at diploma level courses has a skewed distribution, with 66.8% men and 33.2% women. At the PhD level, 56.18% students are men and 43.82% women,” the report noted.

Distance enrolment, banking on which the government is hoping to double the GER by 2024, constituted about 10.62% of the total enrolment in higher education, of which 44.15% were women.

According to the report, the maximum numbers of students were enrolled in the BA programme, followed by BSc and BCom programmes. The total number of students enrolled in Arts courses was 93.49 lakh, out of which 46.96% were men and 53.03% women. Science had 47.13 lakh student enrollments, out of which 49% were men and 51% women.

“Commerce is the third major stream, with 40.3 lakh students enrolled. The share of men enrolled in Commerce is 51.2%, whereas women enrolment is 48.8%,” the report noted.

Engineering and Technology was the fourth major stream, with 38.52 lakh students enrolled. “The share of men enrolled in Engineering and Technology is 71.1% while women enrolment is 28.9%,” the report added.