About All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE):
- The AISHE report has been published by the Ministry of Education since 2011.
- Aim: To portray the status of higher education in the country.
- The survey covers all the institutions in the country engaged in imparting higher education.
- Data is being collected on several parameters, such as teachers, student enrollment, programmes, examination results, education finance, and infrastructure.
- Indicators of educational development such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil-teacher ratio, Gender Parity Index, Per Student Expenditure will also be calculated from the data collected through AISHE.
- For the purpose of this survey, Higher Education is definedas education, that is obtained after completing 12 years of schooling or equivalent.
Highlights of AISHE 2021-22:
o In 2021-22, the overall gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education for the age group 18-23 years increased to 28.4%, from 27.3%in 2020- 21 and 23.7% in 2014- 15, the base year.
o Female GER increased to 28.5% (2.07 crore) in 2021-22 from 27.9 (2.01 crore) in 2020-21 and 22.9 percent in 2014-15.
o The GER of Schedule Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) students has also increased by around 2%. In 2020-21, the GER of SC students was 25.6% and ST was 23.4%, while in 2021-22 it increased to 27.2% and 25.8% respectively.
o The enrolment of OBC students has also increased to 1.63 crore in 2021-22 from 1.13 crore in 2014-15.
o About 78.9 per cent of the total students are enrolled in undergraduate level courses and 12.1 per cent are enrolled in postgraduate level courses.
o Among disciplines at the undergraduate-level in AISHE 2021-22, enrolment is highest in Arts (34.2%), followed by science (14.8%), Commerce (13.3%), and Engineering and Technology (11.8%).
o Among streams at postgraduate-level in AISHE 2021-22, maximum students are enrolled in Social Science (21.1%), followed by science (14.7).
o Government Universities constituting 58.6% of total Universities, contribute 73.7% of total enrolment, and Private Universities account for 26.3% of total enrolment.
o The total number of Universities / University level institutions registered is 1,168, Colleges 45,473 and Standalone Institutions 12,002.
o As per the survey, the total number of faculty/teachers in 2021-22 is 15.98 lakh, of which about 56.6% are male and 43.4% are female.
Q1: What is the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)?
It is a citizen-led household survey that provides estimates of the enrolment status of children aged 3-16 and the basic reading and arithmetic levels of children aged 5-16 at the national, state and district level. ASER is published by NGO Pratham, and the survey has been conducted every year since 2005. The survey reaches children in the age group of 3-16 in almost all rural districts of India. It uses household rather than school-based sampling.
Last updated on January, 2026
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