State’s gross enrolment ratio in higher edu up by 1%

The gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education has increased in Karnataka by 1% in 2018-19, but the percentage of students in the universities and colleges in the state continues to be far lesser than that of neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and a few other states.

According to the latest All India Survey of Higher Education (AISE) report, released by the HRD ministry, the GER in higher education in Karnataka in the age-group of 18-23 years went up to 28.8% in 2018-19 from 27.8% in 2017-18.

The GER in Tamil Nadu for 2018-19 stood at 49%, Kerala 37%, Telangana 36.2%, Andhra Pradesh 32.4% and Maharashtra 32%.

With 28.8% GER in higher education, Karnataka ranked lowly 18th among all the states and the Union Territories.

Sikkim has the highest GER of 53.9% followed by Chandigarh 50.6%, while the Bihar has recorded the lowest GER of 13.6% in higher education.

Karnataka features in the list of top seven states with the highest number of colleges in India. The state holds the third position with a total of 3,670 colleges at 53 colleges per lakh population. Other six states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, which have Colleges in the range of 28 to 49 per lakh population.

With a total of 65 universities, Karnataka ranked fourth in the list of the states and UTs with the highest number of varsities.

According to the AISHE report, the overall GER in higher education reached 26.3% in 2018-19 from 25.8% in 2017-18 in the country, a mere 0.5% increase.

A total of eight lakh new students were enrolled in country’s universities and colleges with the annual survey pegging the overall enrollment at 3.74 crore in 2018-19 against 3.66 crore in 2017-18.

The Ministry is hoping to increase the GER in higher education to 30% by 2022 and double it by 2024, primarily banking on the measures being taken to promote open and distance mode learning in the country.

The AISHE report also indicates narrowing of the gender gap in higher education but there is still a long way to go.

The ratio of men’s enrollment continues to be higher than that of the women ‘at almost every level’, except in the M Phil, PG and Certificate programmes, the report noted.

“Student enrollment at undergraduate level has 51% men and 49% women. Enrollment at diploma level courses has a skewed distribution with 66.8% men and 33.2% women. At PhD level, 56.18% students are men and 43.82% women,” it added.