TL;DR The latest AISHE data shows that higher education enrolment in India has continued to increase, reaching 4.46 crore in 2023-24. While female participation and enrolment across all major social groups have grown over the past five years, differences remain in the gender composition of different institution types and programme levels.

Context
The Ministry of Education recently released the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023-24 report, presenting the latest official data on India’s higher education sector. The survey provides information on institutions, student enrolment, faculty, infrastructure, and examination outcomes, and is the primary source of official statistics on higher education in the country.

The latest report shows that higher education enrolment reached 4.46 crore in 2023-24. The annual survey also enables an assessment of how enrolment patterns have changed over time. Using AISHE data for the last five years, this story examines trends in student enrolment across programme levels, gender, and social category, providing context to the latest enrolment figures released by the Ministry of Education.

Who compiles this data?
The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) is an annual survey conducted by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, since 2010-11. The survey collects institution-level data from universities, colleges, and standalone institutions across the country through a web-based portal. It is the primary source of official statistics on India’s higher education sector.

The survey findings are based on data submitted by participating institutions. As noted in the AISHE reports, the published statistics do not include information from institutions that did not furnish data to the Department of Higher Education for the respective survey year.

Where can I download clean & structured data related to this?
Clean, structured, and ready-to-use datasets based on AISHE are available on Dataful. This collection contains year-wise and state-wise statistics on higher education in India, including enrolment, graduates, institutions, faculty, student-teacher ratios, and other key indicators, disaggregated by programme, institution type, gender, and social groups.

Key Insights

• Higher education enrolment increased from 3.4 crore in 2014-15 to nearly 4.5 crore in 2023-24, while female enrolment grew by 42.2% during the same period to reach 2.2 crore.
• Of the nearly 4.5 crore students enrolled in higher education in 2023-24, 40.1% belonged to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 15.5% to Scheduled Castes (SCs), 6.4% to Scheduled Tribes (STs), while the remaining 38.0% were from other communities.
• Enrolment increased across all three social groups between 2019-20 and 2023-24. OBC enrolment increased by 26.8%, SC enrolment by 23.1%, and ST enrolment by 33.3%. While ST students recorded the highest percentage growth in enrolment over the five-year period, OBC students registered the largest increase in absolute numbers, adding 38 lakh enrolments during the same period.
• Female enrolment also increased across these social groups during the same period. ST female enrolment recorded the highest growth at 39.2%, and OBC female enrolment increased by 27.8% between 2019-20 and 2023-24.

• State Public Universities enrolled the largest number of students in 2023-24, with 15.8 lakh female and 15.9 lakh male students. They were followed by State Private Universities, where enrolment reached 14.8 lakh males and 8.4 lakh females.
• Female students accounted for about half of the enrolment in several university types in 2023-24, including Government Aided Deemed Universities (52.1%), State Public Universities (50.2%), Central Open Universities (49.8%), and Central Universities (48.3%).
• The female share increased in some institution types over the last five years, most notably in Institutes of National Importance, where it rose from 24.7% in 2019-20 to 30.2% in 2023-24, and in State Open Universities, from 39.4% to 46.0%. Despite these gains, women continued to account for only about one-third of enrolment in Government Deemed Universities (33.3%) and State Private Universities (36.3%) in 2023-24.
• A possible explanation for the gender gap in some university types is the concentration of technical and professional programmes, particularly engineering, where women continue to account for a smaller share of enrolment.

• Undergraduate programmes continued to account for the largest share of higher education enrolment, with 3.46 crore students enrolled in 2023-24, followed by 57.9 lakh postgraduate students. PhD enrolment increased from 2.03 lakh in 2019-20 to 3.44 lakh in 2023-24, registering the fastest growth among major programme levels.
• Women constituted the majority of postgraduate students throughout the five-year period, accounting for 56.2% of PG enrolment in 2023-24. Female enrolment also reached near parity in Undergraduate (49.5%) and PhD (49.8%) programmes.
• A possible reason is that women have higher participation in disciplines that account for a large share of postgraduate enrolment, such as Arts, Education, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences. In contrast, men continue to dominate engineering and technology, where a significant proportion of graduates may enter the workforce immediately after completing an undergraduate degree rather than pursuing a master’s degree.
• Female representation remained comparatively lower in Diploma programmes, although it increased steadily from 34.9% in 2019-20 to 40.0% in 2023-24. The female share in Integrated programmes also increased from 43.8% to 48.0% during the same period.
• M.Phil. enrolment declined sharply from 23,934 students in 2019-20 to 2,086 in 2023-24, reflecting the discontinuation of M.Phil. programmes under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Why does it matter?
The increase in overall enrolment masks important differences in who participates in higher education and where they study. While women now account for nearly half of undergraduate and doctoral enrolment and a majority of postgraduate students, they remain underrepresented in several institution types, particularly those offering technical education. Similarly, enrolment has increased across all major social groups, but the pace of growth has varied. These trends provide useful context for assessing equity and participation in India’s higher education system.

Key Numbers

• ↑ 3.4 crore → 4.46 crore — Higher education enrolment (2014-15 to 2023-24)
• ↑ 42.2% — Growth in female enrolment since 2014-15
• ↑ 23.1% (SC) | ↑ 33.3% (ST) — Enrolment growth between 2019-20 and 2023-24
• ↑ 2.03 lakh → 3.44 lakh — Ph.D. enrolment (2019-20 to 2023-24)
• 56.2% — Women as a share of postgraduate enrolment (2023-24)

Note: Featured image generated with ChatGPT

Pavithra K M

A bachelor’s degree in mathematics and master’s in social science, she is driven by ardent desire to work with this unique combination to create her own path instead of following the herd. Having served a stint as the college union chairperson, she is a strategist who is also passionate about nature conservation, art and loves solving Sudoku.