All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) has revealed that the female enrolment is lowest at institutions of national importance which are closely followed by state private open universities and government deemed universities. The report was released by Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar, who said that the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education was 25.8 per cent. GER is calculated for 18-23 years of age group.
The survey report, which was released for 2017-18, said, "Share of female students is lowest in Institutions of National Importance, followed by state private open universities and deemed universities (government). The total enrolment in higher education has been estimated to be 36.6 million with 19.2 million boys and 17.4 million girls. The girls constitute 47.6 per cent of the enrolment."
According to the report, the GER for male population is 26.3 per cent and for female population is 25.4 per cent.
The GER for Scheduled castes is 21.8 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes, it is 15.9 per cent as opposed to the national GER of 25.8 per cent.
In comparison to females, more males were awarded a PhD degree in 2017, most of them being in science stream.
"34000 students were awarded PhD-level degrees during 2017, with 20,179 males and 14,221 females. At PhD-level, maximum number of students turn out is in science stream, followed by Engineering and Technology. On the other hand, at PG-level maximum students turn out is observed in social science followed by management stream," the survey report said.
Among the states, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with highest student enrolment, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
The report also revealed that the number of foreign students enrolled at Indian Institutions is 46,114 and top 10 countries constitute 63.4 per cent of the total foreign student population.
AISHE was initiated in 2011 to create a more comprehensive database on higher education in India.
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