Gross enrolment ratio in higher education increases

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education has increased from 25.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 26.3 per cent in 2018-19, while in absolute terms the enrolment increased from 3.66 crore to 3.74 crore students, according to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE).

The survey was released by Human Resource Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Saturday during the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting.

The survey said GER for SCs has also grown from 21.8 per cent to 23 per cent and STs from 15.9 per cent to 17.2 per cent.

It said the number of universities has grown from 903 (2017-18) to 993 (2018-19) and total higher education institutions (HEIs) from 49,964 to 51,649 in the same period.

The strength of faculty increased from 13.88 lakh to 14.16 lakh.

According to an official release, the minister also launched the Plagiarism Detention Software (PDS) 'Shodh Shuddhi.' This service is being implemented by INFLIBNET, an Inter-University Centre (IUC) of UGC.

The PDS will significantly help to improve the quality of research outcome by ensuring the originality of ideas and publication of the research scholars.

Initially, about 1000 universities and institutions - Central universities, centrally funded technical institutions (CFTIs), state public universities, deemed universities, private universities, and Institutes of National Importance

are being provided with this service.