The report of the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2021–22, made public on January 25, found that 4.33 crore students are currently enrolled in an higher educational institute — up from 4.14 crore in 2020-21, and 3.42 crore in 2014-15.

The survey captures total student enrolment in eight different levels: undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD, MPhil, diploma, PG diploma, certificate, and integrated programmes. 

In all, 10,576 standalone institutions, 42,825 colleges, and 1,162 universities/university level institutions responded to the survey.

Highlights

• The number of women enrolled in higher educational institutes has steadily increased, the AISHE report showed. In the last five years, the number of women enrolled increased by 18.7%, from 1.74 crore in 2017–18.
•  In 2021-22, the total PhD enrolment in the country is 2.12 lakh of which 98,636 are women. Eight years ago, only 47,717 women were enrolled in PhD programmes.
• The survey showed that the Bachelor of Arts (BA) programme has the highest enrolment, with 1.13 crore students — 34.2% of total undergraduate enrolment across India. In all, 3.41 crore students are enrolled in UG programmes.
• In the government sector, state public universities have the largest share of enrolment, accounting for around 31% of the total enrolment for universities.
• In actual numbers, government owned universities have an enrolment of 71.06 lakh, whereas enrolment in privately managed universities is 25.32 lakh.