New Delhi: India’s higher education sector has expanded significantly over the past decade with a sharp rise in institutions, student enrolment and participation of women and disadvantaged communities, according to a report released on Tuesday.
As per analysis of SBI Research, the number of universities rose to 1,289 in FY24 from 723 in FY14, while colleges increased to 48,246 from 36,634.
While the number of standalone institutions also rose to 15,221 from 11,664 during the period, it said.
Student enrolment crossed 4.5 crore in FY24 with men and women accounting for nearly equal shares.
Moreover, students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backwards Classes (OBC) together accounted for about 62 per cent of total enrolment.
In addition, female participation has also increased across higher education.
Women outnumbered men in science at the undergraduate level, while their share among PhD students was nearly equal to that of men.
Apart from that, the report highlighted that the number of teachers rose to 17.3 lakh in FY24 from 13.7 lakh in FY14, with women accounting for 45 per cent of teachers.
However, it said that about one-third of sanctioned teaching positions in centrally funded universities and institutes remain vacant with vacancies particularly high at the professor level.
The number of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) increased to 76 in FY26 from 59 in FY14.
While placements from IIMs rose to about 13,700 in FY24 from 7,500 in FY16 and placements from IITs increased to about 17,500 from 9,500.
The report also noted that median salaries across IIMs, IITs and NITs more than doubled between FY16 and FY24 with median salary at IIMs crossing Rs 40 lakh in FY24.
However, SBI Research flagged the need for higher public spending on education and noted that higher education’s share of total government expenditure has remained around 1 per cent in recent years.
It also called for greater investment in research, stronger industry-academia links and expansion of vocational training.
The report proposed making the National Testing Agency a statutory body and suggested examining a constitutional amendment to support a right to free and fair educational opportunity.
It also called for reforms in examination systems and reducing regional disparities in student-teacher ratios.
(IANS)
