CII-Deloitte recently released a report on the “Annual Status of Higher Education of States and UTs in India 2016” (ASHE 2016). A collaborative initiative of New York headquartered Deloitte and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the report reflects on the key reforms outlined by the government such as the draft education policy, the draft scheme for “World Class” institutions and the National Institutional Ranking Framework.
According to the report, of the total enrolment of 342.1 lakh students (54 percent male and 46 percent female enrolments) in higher education institutes in India, Uttar Pradesh ranks first (60.6 lakhs, 17.7 percent), followed by Maharashtra (37.4 lakhs, 10.9 percent), Tamil Nadu (33.5 lakhs, 9.8 percent), West Bengal (19 lakhs, 5.6 percent) and Karnataka (18.9 lakhs, 5.5 percent). The five southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka account for nearly one-third (30 percent) of the total enrolments across India, with 19.3 percent of the country share of 18-23 age population.

The report also points out that the highest share of enrolment (79.4 percent) is at undergraduate level, followed by post-graduate (11.3 percent) and Diploma (7.3 percent), with all other levels comprising < 2 percent. Female enrolment has been highest in M.Phil. (57.7 percent), certificate (56.4 percent) and post graduate courses (51.5 percent).

The total number of universities in India has gone up from 620 in 2010-11 to 760 in 2014-15, growing at a CAGR of 5.22 percent. The number of government universities (including central, institutes of national importance, state public, government deemed and a few others) have gone up from 439 in 2010-11 to 494 in 2014-15, growing at a CAGR of 2.99 percent. However, the number of private universities (including state private and private deemed) have gone up from 181 in 2010-11 to 266 in 2014-15, growing at a much faster CAGR of 10.10 percent. The top five states with the highest number of universities include Rajasthan (64, 8.4 percent of total in India), Uttar Pradesh (63, 8.3 percent), Tamil Nadu (58, 7.6 percent), Karnataka (51, 6.7 percent) and Gujarat (49, 6.4 percent).

The report illustrates some of the key reforms brought to the public domain and their possible impact on the Higher Education sector and the Indian economy such as support provided by UK to the Higher Education system in India, with 2016 declared as UK-India year of Education, Research & Innovation and the ambitious plan of MHRD to develop 10 public and 10 private institutions as world class institutions.

Comments Anindya Mallick, partner, Deloitte India, “The Higher Education sector in India currently finds itself at a very critical juncture. Efforts of the policy makers can be seen through the operationalisation of the vision and the mission of the New Education Policy which will affect the higher education space for a progressive realisation. Given the government’s intent to increase accessibility of educational programmes, aligning higher education with skill development objectives, integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education, improving and encouraging enhanced financing for education development programmes amongst other, an extremely positive outlook for the sector is foreseen.”

ASHE 2016 marks the fifth edition of the series and the fourth consecutive year of Deloitte India’s association with CII and MHRD for authoring this report. While the previous issue of the report focused on instituting a new framework for ranking higher educational institutions and understanding its long term impact on globalising higher education; ASHE 2016 has elucidates the changing trends in Higher Education and the efforts made to meet global standards of quality and excellence.

The report provides a holistic view of the higher education sector in India and reflects on the key reforms and provides an analytical view on the same. This year’s report focuses on the New Education Policy Draft formulated by the Government of India and explaining the genesis, key features and impact of the policy on the education sector.

To access Deloitte’s ASHE Report 2016 – Annual Status of Higher Education of States and UTs in India, click on the link below.

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/IMO/in-imo-education-annual-status-higher-education-2016-noexp.pdf