According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-2021, the enrollment of students in higher education has crossed the four crore mark for the first time.

Ministry of Education, Government of India, has prepared the report considering detailed information on diverse parameters such as student enrollment, infrastructural information, teachers' data, and financial information, among others.

According to the AISHE report 2020-21, student registration in higher education raised to 4.14 crore from 3.85 crores in 2019-2020, observing a boost of 7.5 percent from 2019-2020 and 21% from 2014-2015. The registration of female students has also reached the two crore mark, with an increase of 13 lakhs from 2019-2020.

The category-wise students' registration has also grown for (SC) Scheduled Caste, (ST) Scheduled Tribes, and (OBC) Other Backward Classes students as compared to the 2014-2015 data. Moreover, the reports reveal a significant increase of 29% in student enrollment and 34% in female student enrollment in the North Eastern region in 2020-2021 compared to 2014-2015.

Student Enrollment

• The total registration in higher education raised to about 4.14 crore in 2020-2021 from 3.85 crores in 2019-2020. Since 2014-2015, there has been a boost of around 72 lahks in enrollment (21%).


• The female enrolment has risen to 2.01 crore from 1.88 crore in 2019-2020. There has been an increase of about 44 lahks (28%) since 2014-2015.


• The percentage of female enrolment to total enrolment has grown from 45% in 2014-15 to approximately 49% in 2020-21.


• As per 2011 population projections for the 18-23 age group, GER has grown to 27.3 from 25.6 in 2019-2020.


• A significant boost of 1.9 points is noticed in GER of scheduled tribe students in 2020-21 compared to 2019-2020.


• Female GER has surpassed Male GER since 2017-2018. Gender Parity Index (GPI), the ratio of female GER to male GER, has risen from 1 in 2017-2018 to 1.05 in 2020-2021.


• The enrollment of scheduled caste students is 58.95 lakh as compared to 56.57 lahks in 2019-2020 and 46.06 lahks in 2014-2015.


• The enrollment of scheduled tribes students has grown to 24.1 lahks in 2020-2021 from 21.6 lahks in 2019-2020 and 16.41 lakh in 2014-2015.


• The average annual enrollment of scheduled tribe students has increased to about 1 lakh from 2014-2015 to 2020-2021, from 75,000 during 2007-2008 to 2014-2015.


• Enrolment of other backward classes students also raised by six lahks to 1.48 crore in 2020-2021, from 1.42 crore in 2019-2020. There is a considerable increase in OBC student registration since 2014-2015 of around 36 lahks (32%).


• The total student registration in North East states is 12.06 lakh in 2020-2021 compared to 9.36 lakh in 2014-2015.


• The female registration in North East states is 6.14 lakh in 2020-2020, which is higher than the male of 5.92 lahks (for every 100 male students, there are 104 female students in NER). Female enrollment outnumbered male enrollment for the first time in 2018-2019, and the trend continues.


• The registration in distance education is 45.71 lakh, with 20.9 lakh females, a growth of around 7% since 2019-20 and 20% since 2014-2015.


• Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka are the top 6 States in terms of the number of students enrolled.


• According to the response in AISHE 2020-2021, nearly 79.06% of the total students are registered in undergraduate-level, and 11.5% in postgraduate-level courses.


• Among Disciplines at the undergraduate level, registration is highest in Arts (Humanities) (33.5%), followed by Science (15.5%), Commerce (13.9%), and Engineering & Technology (11.9%).


• Among streams at the postgraduate level, the maximum number of students are registered in Social Science (20.56%), followed by science (14.83%).


• Of the total enrollment, 55.5 lakh students are registered in science, with 29.5 lahks female students outnumbering male students (26 Lakh).


• Government Universities (59% of the total contributed to 73.1% of the enrollment. Government Colleges (21.4% of the total) contribute to 34.5% of the enrollment.


• The enrolment in the Institute of National Importance (INIs) has grown by about 61% during 2014-2015 to 2020-2021.


• Enrollment rose in 2020-2021 compared to 2014-15 in the Specialized Universities connecting to Biotechnology, Sports, Defence, Sanskrit, Forensics, Design, etc.


• The total number of pass-outs rose to 95.4 lahks in 2020-2021 compared to 94 lahks in 2019-20.

Availability of various infrastructural facilities in universities in 2020-2021:

• Computer centres- 91%, 865 in 2019-2020


• Libraries- 97%


• Laboratories- 88%


• Skill development centre- 61%, (58% in 2019-2020)


• Connectivity to national knowledge network- 56%, from (34% in 2019-2020)