Women lead growth in higher education enrolment

Higher education participation has expanded substantially over a decade in India, with female enrolment growing faster than overall student numbers and gender parity improving.

Women’s Gross Enrolment Ratio reached 31.2% in 2023-24, compared with 28.9% for men, marking the seventh consecutive year in which female participation was higher.

Between 2014-15 and 2023-24, total higher education enrolment rose 31.5% from 34.2 million to 45 million, while female enrolment climbed 42.2% to 22.4 million. The number of universities increased nearly 70% to 1,289, and colleges rose 25.3% to 48,246. Participation also increased among disadvantaged social groups, while PhD enrolment almost tripled from 117,000 to 343,000. The expansion advances the National Education Policy 2020 goal of raising the Gross Enrolment Ratio to 50% by 2035.