(GS2: Education)
- Background: The Education Ministry has been conducting All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2011.
- Coverage: AISHE Report 2022 covers all higher educational institutions located in Indian Territory and imparting higher education in the country.
- Parameters Used: The AISHE survey collects detailed information on different parameters such as student enrolment, teacher’s data, infrastructural information, financial information etc.
- Objectives: Main objectives of the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) are to-
- Identify & capture all the institutions of higher learning in the country
- Collect the data from all the higher education institutions on various aspects of higher education
- AISHE 2020-21 Online Data Collection: For the first time, in AISHE 2020-21, HEIs have filled data using entirely online data collection platform through the Web Data Capture Format (DCF).
- DCF is developed by Department of Higher Education through the National Informatics Centre (NIC)
AISHE) 2022-2021 report covers three broad aspects of India’s Higher Education System. These are- Student Enrollment, Number of Institutions, Faculty.
Major Highlights of the AISHE Data:
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
- Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for all enrolments (as per 2011 Census) increased by over 2 points to 27.3.
- The highest enrolment was seen at the undergraduate level, which accounted for 78.9%of all enrolments.
- The female enrolment in higher educationprogrammes had increased to49% of total enrolments in 2020-21 compared to 45% in 2019-20.
- But, the overall figures for Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM)enrolments (at all levels of higher education) showed that women lagged behind men, who accounted for over 56% of enrolments in these fields.
- Gender Parity Index (GPI), the ratio of female GER to male GER, has increased from 1 in 2017-18 to 1.05 in 2020-21.
- The number of students in the Persons with Disabilities category dropped in 2020-21to 79,035 from 92,831 in 2019-20.
- The proportion of Muslim students enrolling for higher education dropped to 4.6% in 2020-21 from 5.5% in 2019-20.
- Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra; Tamil Nadu; Madhya Pradesh; Karnataka and Rajasthan are the top 6 States in terms of number of students enrolled
Faculty:
- Total number of faculty/teachers are 15,51,070 of which about 57.1% are male and 42.9% are female.
- Under-representation of SC & ST: At All-India level, 56.2% teachers belong to General category; 32.2% to OBC; 9.1% to SC and 2.5% to ST category.
- Female per 100 male faculty has improved to 75 in 2020-21 from 74 in 2019-20 and 63 in 2014-15.
UNIVERSITIES:
- During 2020-21, the number of universities has increased by 70, and the number of colleges has increased by 1,453.
- Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra; Karnataka; Rajasthan; Tamil Nadu; Madhya Pradesh; Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the top 8 States in terms of number of colleges.
Issues:
- Faculty Shortage: AISHE 2020-21 showed that the teacher-pupil ratio was at 27 for all universities, colleges and standalone institutions.
- Inadequate Infrastructure: Due to the budget deficit, corruption and lobbying by the vested interest group, public as well as private sector universities in India lack the necessary infrastructure.
- Regulatory Issues: Management of Indian higher education faces challenges of lack of accountability, transparency, and professionalism.
As a result of the increase in the number of affiliated colleges and students, the burden of administrative functions of universities has significantly increased and the core focus on academics and research is diluted.
- Problem of Brain Drain: Due to cutthroat competition for getting admission in top institutes like IITs and IIMs, a challenging academic environment is created for a large number of students in India, so they prefer going abroad, which makes our country deprived of good talent.
Way forward:
- Education-Employment Corridor: India’s educational setup needs to be enhanced by integrating vocational learning with mainstream education and providing right mentorship at school (especially in government schools) to ensure that students are guided in the right direction from the start and are aware of career opportunities.
- Taking a Note from Past to Future: It is important to look to the future while keeping our long-established roots in mind.
