HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said that progressive steps have been taken by the Government in higher education since there has been a significant gain in student enrollment, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and Gender Parity.
Citing from the annual All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), Javadekar told reporters that quality, autonomy, research and innovation are the key pillars of Modi government’s vision for improving higher education in India. The eights AISHE has detailed information on 864 universities and 40,026 colleges and it is a portal based survey.
Javadekar informed that there is an increase in overall enrolment from 27.5 million in 2010-11 to 35.7 million in 2016-17 and improvement in GER which is a ratio of enrolment in higher education to population in the eligible age group (18-23) years, from 19.4 percent in 2010-11 to 25.2 percent in 2016-17 which is a significant achievement. He expressed the hope that the GER ratio of 30 percent would be achieved by the year 2022.
He further informed that Gender Parity Index (GPI), a ratio of proportional representation of female and male, has improved from 0.86 to 0.94 to the corresponding period. To give a further boost to girl-students, the Minister announced that a supernumerary quota in IITs will be increased.
Javadekar informed that the number of institutions of higher education listed on AISHE portal has also increased significantly - from 621 universities in 2010-11 to 864 in 2016-17 and from 32,974 colleges in 2010-11 to 40,026 colleges in 2016-17. MoS HRD Dr. Satya Pal Singh and HRD Special Secretary R Subrahmanyam were also present on the occasion.
He said that the government’s vision for the higher education is based on three important aspects namely Quality, Autonomy, Research & Innovation. Stating that for successful planning and implementation of any policy we need correct information and real time survey, the Minister commended the officials involved in this task.
The AISHE Survey was initiated in the year 2011 to prepare a robust data-base on higher education. Keeping in view the usefulness of data collected during the very first year, Ministry decided to make this survey an annual exercise of data collection in higher education sector.
The survey covers almost all the Higher Education institutions (HEIs) in the country including Universities, Colleges and Stand-Alone institutions. Identified nodal officers from each institution are primarily responsible for collecting and uploading the data on AISHE portal in a secured environment.