Breaking Down the Growth: Female Enrollment Outperforms Males in Higher Education for the 5th Consecutive Year

In 2021-22, a total of 57,18,185 students were enrolled in science at UG, PG, MPhil and PhD levels with 52.1 percent of the the students being female, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education report

In the academic year 2021-22, a combined sum of 57,18,185 students registered for Science programs spanning UG, PG, M.Phil., and Ph.D. categories, demonstrating a 52.1 percent representation of female students, as detailed in the All India Survey on Higher Education findings. The Female Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for the same period, the latest available credible data, surpassed the male GER for the fifth consecutive year, as indicated in the AISHE report.

The Female GER observed an uptick to 28.5 percent (2.07 crore) in 2021-22 from 27.9 percent (2.01 crore) in 2020-21, and 22.9 percent in 2014-15, when the female enrolment numbered a little over 1.57 crore.

In 2021-22, the overall GER in higher education for the age group 18-23 years increased to 28.4 percent, compared to 27.3 percent in 2020-21 and 23.7 percent in 2014-15, which serves as the base year.

The enrolment figures for females in Kerala, Telangana, Haryana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, and Chhattisgarh exceeded those for males.

A cumulative total of 57,18,185 students were enrolled in science at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctorate levels in 2021-22, with females constituting 52.1 percent. At the UG level, enrolment reached 49,18,425, with 50.8 percent being females. Among the 7,52,807 students enrolled at the PG level, 61.2 percent were females. At the Ph.D. level, enrolment in science amounted to 45,324, with a majority being female candidates.

Overall enrolment high in Arts

According to the government report, public universities constituting 58.6 percent of total universities accounted for 73.7 percent of total enrolments with private universities chipping in with the balance 26.3 percent.

Moreover, government-run colleges constituting 21.5 percent of total colleges contributed 34.8 percent of total enrolment. Private (aided) colleges comprising 13.3 percent of total colleges accounted for 20.6 percent of enrolment. Private (unaided) colleges, on the other hand, while making up the large bulk of institutions in this bracket at 65.2 percent of the total number, could lay claim to only 44.6 percent of total enrolment.

About 78.9 percent of the overall student population was enrolled in undergraduate-level courses and 12.1 percent in postgraduate-level courses.

Based on actual responses at the undergraduate level, enrolment was highest in arts (34.2 percent) followed by science (14.8 percent), commerce (13.3 percent), and engineering and technology (11.8 percent).
Total PhD enrolments rose 81.2 percent in 2021-22 (2.13 lakh) from 2014-15 (1.17 lakh).

Teaching staff

The total number of faculty/teachers in 2021-22 came in at 15.98 lakh of which about 56.6 percent were male and 43.4 percent female.

While the number of teachers went up by 46,618 in 2021-22 over 2020-21, there was a marginal improvement of females per 100 male faculty from 75 in 2020-21 to 77 in 2021-22.

Female faculty/teachers increased to 6.94 lakh in 2021-22 from 5.69 lakh in 2014-15 (an increase of 22 percent since 2014-15). For regular mode, the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in universities and colleges was 24 in 2021-22, whereas PTR for universities and its constituent units in regular mode was 18.