India's goal to improve higher education enrolment seems hard to get

Country will need more universities and colleges to meet 2035 target set by National Education Policy

India is unlikely to achieve the target of reaching Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education to 50 by 2035: A goal set by the National Education Policy in 2020.

 

GER is a measure of the number of people enrolled in a particular level of education relative to the population. Although GER in higher education has been improving at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.65 per cent from 24.6 per cent in 2017-18 to 28.4 per cent in 2021-22, it won't be enough to reach the goal for 2035. (chart 1) 

 

India will need more higher educational institutions (HEIs) such as universities, colleges and stand-alone institutions for that. B V R Subrahmanyam, chief executive officer of Niti Aayog, recently said that India will have to raise the number of universities to 2,500.

 

In 2017-18, there were 36.6 million students enrolled in HEIs that included 903 registered universities (both private and state-owned). The numbers increased to 43.3 million students enrolled at 1,168 registered universities in 2021-22, according to the government’s All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report. There are now 1,317 registered universities on the AISHE dashboard, registering a 5.53 per cent CAGR from 2017-18 to 2024-25. At this rate, India will fall short of the 2,500 universities mark in 2035. (chart 2) 

 

The Union cabinet early in November approved the PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme to provide financial support to “meritorious students” seeking to pursue higher education. The number of people buying education loans declined in 2018-19 to 2020-21 but in the past two years the amount of such credit disbursed by state-owned banks as well as the number of accounts have increased. The share of loans taken to study abroad has increased from 27.33 per cent in FY14 to 46.78 per cent in FY22. The share of loans taken to study in India has declined. (chart 3)