In a promising trend signaling increased gender inclusivity in education, recent data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE-Report) for the year 2021-2022 unveils a noteworthy development — girls have outpaced boys in higher education enrollment over the past eight years.
The AISHE report indicates a significant surge in girls’ enrollment by 18.7% over the last five years. Maharashtra secures the second position in the country for the highest number of colleges.
According to the AISHE report, the overall enrollment in higher education has witnessed a substantial increase, reaching 91 lakh students. Girls constitute 55% of this total, with 2.07 crore female students out of a total of 4.33 crore registrations. In the academic year 2014-15, women accounted for 46% of the total 3.42 crore registrations.
The report highlights a consistent growth in women’s enrollment since 2014-15, showcasing an 18.7% increase over five years. The enrollment of girls has risen from 1.74 crore in 2017-18 to 2.07 crore in 2021-22. Notably, girls have consistently constituted 55% of the total enrollment of 91 lakh students since 2014-15, surpassing boys in enrollment numbers.
At various academic levels, the report indicates that about 52.1% of the total 57.18 lakh students enrolled in undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil, and PhD programs are girls. In particular, 51% of female students at the degree level are enrolled in the science stream. Additionally, in the academic year 2020-21, 53.1% of the 55.48 lakh students enrolled in the science stream were female students.
At the postgraduate level in science, 61.2% of the 7.52 lakh students enrolled are women. Moreover, more than half (62%) of the 45,324 students enrolled in PhD programs in science are girls, while boys account for only 39%.
In terms of the number of colleges, the AISHE survey indicates that Uttar Pradesh leads the country in higher education institutions, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. Maharashtra holds the second position with 4,692 colleges, while Uttar Pradesh leads with 8,375 colleges. The survey also notes that Maharashtra has 30 colleges for every one lakh population, securing a prominent position in higher education.
