Findings show higher education continuing to expand, with student enrolment reaching 45 million.
The Indian Ministry of Education published the latest All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) for the 2023-24 academic year earlier this month. AISHE provides the most comprehensive national dataset on India’s higher education sector, covering institutions, students, faculty, programmes and infrastructure.
While the figures in the report are from two years ago, it still represents the most recent comprehensive data on the Indian higher education system. The latest edition also includes metrics aligned with the implementation of India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Conducted annually, the survey relies on voluntary participation from higher education institutions across India, which was around 91 per cent in the reporting year and for any data gaps uses estimates for non-responding institutions based on submissions from previous two years (2022-23 or 2021-22).
Key highlights
There are now 64,456 higher education institutions with 4,376 added during past year. Of these, 1,289 are universities/university level institutions which have degree awarding powers, 48,246 colleges constituent/recognised/affiliated with universities, and 15,221 standalone institutions which are outside the purview of universities and colleges such as technical/polytechnic, teacher training and nursing institutions.
Student enrolment has also increased to 45m from 44.6m in one year, with an additional 400,000 students entering into higher education. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which measures the level of participation in higher education within the projected 18–23-year-old population, has reached 30 per cent. The National Education Policy 2020 has set a target of 50 per cent GER by 2035.
Undergraduate programmes account for the largest share of enrolment at 76.8 per cent (35m students), followed by postgraduate programmes (12.9 per cent), and diploma/certificate programmes (7.4 per cent). Conventional on-campus learning remains the dominant mode of study, accounting for 88 per cent of total enrolment, while distance and online modes together account for the remaining 12 per cent.
More than half of India’s higher education students are concentrated in six states. Uttar Pradesh leads with 7.2m students, followed by Maharashtra (4.65m), Tamil Nadu (3.58m), Madhya Pradesh (2.77m), Karnataka (2.76m) and Bihar (2.76m). Collectively, these states account for 52.9 per cent of total enrolment. From a proportional perspective, the states/union territories with the highest GER are Puducherry (72 per cent), Chandigarh (58.5 per cent), Delhi (53 per cent), Tamil Nadu (52.3 per cent), Uttarakhand (48.5 per cent), Telangana (46.6 per cent), and Himachal Pradesh (46.4 per cent); however, some parts of the country have much lower enrolment with Lakshadweep (7.1 per cent) and D & N Haveli and Daman and Diu (10.5 per cent) having the lowest GER.
The gross enrolment rate for female students increased to 31.2 per cent in 2023–24, up from 30.2 per cent a year ago, compared with 28.9 per cent for males – which is unchanged over this period. This also marks the seventh consecutive year that female GER has exceeded male GER, with a Gender Parity Index (GPI) of 1.08. However, the total number of male students is still slightly higher, accounting for 50.3 per cent of the higher education population compared to 49.7 per cent for females. This is due to a gender imbalance among young people in India. At the undergraduate level, women comprise 49.5 per cent of enrolment, while at the postgraduate level they constitute the majority, representing 56.2 per cent of all students.
A total of 106,385* Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) enrolled in higher education, comprising 60,487 male and 45,898 female students. They have a certified disability of 40 per cent or more in any of the 21 recognised disability categories and are eligible for statutory reservations and academic accommodations. PwBD account for 0.2 per cent of total higher education enrolment in India, indicating under-representation and access challenges. (Note: *AISHE reports conflicting figures for this measure; the figure used here has been selected based on consistency with historical data series).
The five popular discipline groups at the undergraduate level has Arts at the top (accounting for 32.1 per cent of enrolment), followed by Science (13.5 per cent), Engineering and Technology (12.9 per cent), Commerce (12 per cent) and Medical Science (6.3 per cent). At the postgraduate level, Social Sciences attracts the largest share of students (18.6 per cent), closely followed by Management (18.2 per cent), Science (15.1 per cent), Indian Languages (7.9 per cent) and Commerce (7.8 per cent). In contrast, Engineering & Technology and Arts – two of the largest disciplines at the undergraduate level – account for only 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent of postgraduate enrolment respectively. Science (23.4 per cent) and Engineering & Technology (20.5 per cent) are the leading disciplines at the PhD level, among a total doctoral enrolment of 0.34m students. Other major disciplines include Social Sciences (11.1 per cent), Medical Sciences (6.7 per cent) and Management (6.2 per cent).
Student enrolment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across all levels of study (that is U.G., P.G., M.Phil., Integrated and Ph.D. levels) is approximately 10m, making up 22.5 per cent of the total enrolment. While female students make up 43.9 per cent of total enrolment in STEM, in the Science stream they outnumber male students at 54.6 per cent.
International student enrolment in India increased to 58,134 in 2023-24, representing growth of 19 per cent over the previous year. International students include non-resident Indian persons, persons of Indian origin, and other foreign nationals. Students came from 173 countries, with Nepal continuing as the largest source country (24.1 per cent), followed by the United Arab Emirates (7 per cent), United States (5.9 per cent), Bangladesh (5.9 per cent), Nigeria (5.5 per cent), and Zimbabwe (4 per cent). The UK is the 29th largest source country for international students in India, with 396 students enrolled (0.68 per cent). The cohort included 207 males and 189 females, representing a 57 per cent increase over the past two years. The top ten source countries account for 63.8 per cent of total international enrolment, indicating that despite the wide geographical reach of Indian higher education, concentration is among a smaller number of countries.
International students are predominantly enrolled in undergraduate programmes (73.6 per cent), with 16.8 per cent pursuing postgraduate study. The top five states for international student enrolment are Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, hosting a combined 57.8 per cent. Across the 163 programmes chosen by international students, Bachelor of Technology, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Business Administration, Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Engineering are the five most popular programmes, reflecting strong demand for STEM and business-related education.
For the first time, AISHE reported performance against India’s NEP 2020 reforms, offering the following insights on progress being made at university level:
- 51 per cent have adopted the National Higher Education Qualification Framework.
- 58 per cent have adopted the National Curriculum and Credit Framework for undergraduate programmes.
- 56 per cent have introduced four-year undergraduate programmes.
- 65 per cent have established Research and Development cells.
- 47 per cent have developed Institutional Development Plans and published them on their websites.
- 58 per cent have signed Memorandums of Understandings on industry linkage.
- 58 per cent have Entrepreneurship and Innovation cells.
- 26 per cent have collaboration with foreign higher education institutions.
- 55 per cent have participated in Indian national rankings and 15 per cent have participated in international rankings.
- 45 per cent offer multidisciplinary programmes.
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