A latest national survey titled All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20, released by the Union Ministry of Education has depicted a dwindling trend in the enrolment of students at post-graduate level across J&K for the past five years.
The national survey has however portrayed an increasing trend of student enrollment at undergraduate level and for PhD admissions as well.
As per the AISHE 2019-20, the J&K Union Territory (UT) has however figured in the list of states and UTs having a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of more than 30 percent in all social groups for females in all categories.
The GER in India is calculated for 18-23 years of age group enrolled in the colleges and Universities.
The survey has also stated that the estimated student enrolment at various levels during the last five years in J&K has shown a mixed response from students at College, University and Ph.D levels.
The survey has calculated the enrollment of students for the past five year at PhD level, M.Phil level and Postgraduate level in J&K.
The enrollment at PhD level has shown a significant increase from 2015 to 2019. In 2015 the enrollment in PhD admission was recorded as 1839 with 985 Males and 854 females, which has however gone up to 3989 comprising of 2080 males and 1909 females in the academic year 2019-20.
The enrollment of students for M.Phil has however gone down from 366 in 2015-16 academic year to 250 in 2019-20 year.
The AISHE 2019-20 has also revealed a downfall in the admission of students at Postgraduate level from 2015 to 2020.
As per the findings of the survey, the estimated enrollment of students at PG level was 77577- Males 37819 and Females 39758 in 2015-16 which has however gone down to 63623- Male 28673 and Females 34950 in 2019-20.
The enrollment of students at PG level was recorded as 70992- Male 30510 and female 40482 in 2016-17 followed by 71760- Males 37274 and Females 34486 in 2017-18 and 66128- Male 29721 female 36407 in 2018-19 respectively.
Meanwhile the estimated student enrolment at undergraduate level during the last five years has shown an encouraging trend in J&K.
The estimated enrollment of students in undergraduate courses was recorded as 2.3 lakh- males 1.14 lakh and females 1.24 lakh which increased to 3.01 lakh – 1.54 lakh males and 1.47 lakh females in 2019-20.
The estimated student enrollment at UG level in 2016-17 was 2.49 lakh- 1.19 lakh males and 1.29 lakh females followed by 2.67 lakh – males 1.27 and females 1.39 lakh in 2017-18 and 3.04–males 1.51 lakh and females 1.52 lakh in 2018-19.
As per the survey, the GER at various levels in higher education for the age group of 18-23 years in J&K is 32.4 with GER of Males at 31.7 percent and females as 33.2 percent.
However, the GER of scheduled caste is 20.3 including Males with GER of 17.3 percent and females with 23.6 percent respectively.
The GER of Scheduled Tribe is 21.1 percent including that of males with 23.0 and females 19.2 percent.