Statistics on Indian Higher Education

The system of Indian higher education is the 3rd largest in this world after the US and China. The University Grants Commission or UGC established twelve autonomous institutions which oversee the official recognition for higher education. At tertiary level, UGC being the chief governing body enforces the standards of it, helps to coordinate between centre and state and gives advice to the government. Here is the most recent information related to statistics on Indian higher education which has been obtained from UGC.

Statistics on Indian Higher Education 

"·         Besides being large, the system of Indian higher learning is also complex with over 20 million students. Structure of institutions granting degree is cumbersome mainly because of the funding sources and affiliation. One-sixth of the Indian students enroll themselves in engineering or technology degrees. Majority of the students take admission in a bachelor's degree program with most of them enrolling in 3 year B.Sc., B.Com or B.A. degrees.     

"·         Top 4 study fields

Engineering and Technology- 16%

Commerce and Management- 18%

Science- 19%

Arts- 37%

"·         Institutions of higher education- Indian colleges and universities

"·         Indian students' enrolment according to study fields

"·         Enrolment of the students of India by education level

"·         Open education and distance learning too is a characteristic of the system of Indian higher education. The council of Distance Education looks after it. IGNOU is the world's largest university so far as student number is concerned having globally 3.5 million students approximately.

Since independence there is phenomenal growth of Indian higher education. During independence there were 500 colleges and 20 universities only. There has been increase in these numbers which is more than 71 times in respect of colleges and almost 27 times as regards universities. Some factors which acted as the drivers of growth to the sector of higher education are:-

Ø  Several governmental reforms including the bill on Education are on anvil for pushing education sector.

Ø  The possibility of foreign investment coming in with passing of the bill on Education Reforms.

Ø  Enhancement of the share of service sector further stresses the function of education regarding development.

Ø  Manpower matching global standards.

Ø  The growth of middle class and booming economy.

Ø  The present GER concerning higher education being low (around 19%), the target is to raise the GER to 30% by 2020 which would mean approximately 17.6 million new enrolments.

Some Indian institutions like JNU, MITS, NITs, IIMs and IITs have been acclaimed globally for their educational standard. About 8000 students are annually enrolled by the IITs and there is contribution of the alumni to the growth of both Indian public and private sectors. Nevertheless still India lacks in universities of international prestige like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard.