Growth of student enrolment in India’s higher education

Source: The post growth of student enrolment in India’s higher education has been created, based on the article “Greater social diversity in higher education is serving India well” published in “Live Mint” on 21st May 2024.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2-Governance- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education.

Context: The article discusses the growth of student enrolment in India’s higher education from 2012-13 to 2021-22, emphasizing the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and the progress towards gender equality.

For detailed information on All India Survey on Higher Education read this article here

How much has student enrolment grown in India?

Total Enrolment Growth: From the academic year 2012-13 to 2021-22, student enrolment in Indian higher education increased from 30 million to 43.2 million.

Annual Growth Rate: The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over these nine years was 4.1%.

Impact of Reservation Policy: Enrolment of marginalized groups significantly increased due to the reservation policy:

Scheduled Castes (SC): Increased from 3.84 million to 6.6 million (6.2% CAGR).

Scheduled Tribes (ST): Rose from 1.32 million to 2.71 million (8.3% CAGR).

Other Backward Classes (OBC): Grew from 9.4 million to 16.3 million (6.3% CAGR).

How close is enrolment to population composition?

The enrolment of SC, ST, and OBC groups in 2021-22 closely matches their percentages in the population:

SC: 15.3% enrolment vs. 16.6% population.

ST: 6.3% enrolment vs. 8.6% population.

OBC: 37.8% enrolment vs. 40.9% population.

However, minorities, who make up about one-fifth of the population, have only 7% enrolment in higher education.

What are the trends in gender parity in higher education?

Achievement of Gender Parity: Gender parity in higher education was achieved in the academic year 2019-20.

Women’s Enrolment: Women constitute 48% of the total enrollment in 2021-22, showing increased participation.

Enrollment Growth Rate: The 10-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for women’s enrolment is 4.7%, compared to 3.4% for men.

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER): Women’s GER in 2021-22 was 28.5, higher than men’s GER at 28.3, indicating a higher proportion of women in the 18-23 age group are pursuing higher education.

Enrolment Across Social Groups: The enrollment growth rate for women is higher than for men across various social groups.

Scheduled Castes: 7% for women, compared to 5.6% for men.

Scheduled Tribes: 9.6% for women, versus 7.2% for men.

Other Backward Classes: 6.8% for women, against 5.9% for men.

Muslim Community: 6.6% for women, versus 5.4% for men.

Way forward

To further boost higher education enrolment, India should expand educational infrastructure and utilize distance learning, especially in regions with low institutional capacity. This strategy helps accommodate more students without merely redistributing limited resources.

Question for practice:

Discuss the trends in student enrolment growth and gender parity in India’s higher education system.