Pattern of Enrollments at Different Educational Levels

 

 

 

Vipan Kumar, Naresh Kumar and Neelam Kumar

 

This section looks at the characteristics and status of enrollments at various stages of education in India. Figure 1 gives a detailed status of net enrolments with respect to the population in the age group of 5 to 14 years, i.e. the school going age. Population data is estimated on the basis of the census data and is plotted as a hatched line from the year 1940 to 2020. Let’s call magnitude of any imaginary vertical drop line from this curve onto the x-axis be “A”.  A comparison of this curve with the primary level enrolment (shown as Orange circles) shows that in the year 1990 44% our “school going group” actually do not reach school. Till the middle (standard 8th) level the drop out level becomes 78% of the total population. The situation becomes critical at UG and PG level with 92 and 97.5% dropout. At PhD level the total strength is meager 0.02% of the total (Figure 1).

 

Fig 1: Stages of education w.r.t the population between 5-14 years (% for one year)

Source: Computed from various source, MHRD, UGC, Datamonitor, OECD database

 

A detailed analysis of this figure is shown in Figure 2. It reveals that the enrolment break-ups in the male-female-total vis-à-vis total population in the age group of “A”. Right side ordinate shows “A”; whereas left side ordinate shows the % of “A”. Red, black and white hatched curves show the absolute population “A” for total, males and females respectively.

 

Fig 2. Percentage break-up of enrolments in education at various stages

Source: IAMR, Yearbook-2008, Datamonitor, HRD Report 2005, UGC Report 2006

 

Elementary Education

Figure 3 shows primary level boys enrolment as percentage of total boys in “A”. It shows that the enrollment was around 76% in 1991 and 81% in 2007, which is a very small growth rate of 0.36%. In case of girls the rise is more than the boys. It was 66% in 1991 and touched almost 75% in 2007 with a growth rate of 1.32%. The growth rate for the whole group is around 0.75%. Green and yellow curves show the boys and girls enrollment as percentage of total “A”. This is constant at 52 and 48% respectively.

 

 

Fig 3. Break-up of Enrolment at Primary level in India

Source: IAMR, Yearbook-2008, Datamonitor, HRD Report 2005, UGC Report 2006

 

 

Secondary and Higher Secondary Education

Figure 4 shows the status of the next level of education, that is Secondary level (11 & 12 std.). The gross enrolment for males was nearly 12% in 1991 and it increased to 19% in 2007 at an annual growth rate of 2.6%. For females, though the enrolment in 1991 was only 6.53%. It has shown substantial increase and has risen to 15.6% in 2007, with a growth rate of 5.25%. The overall growth rate for secondary education has remained at 3.6%.

 

Fig 4.  Break-up of Enrolment at Secondary level in India

Source: IAMR, Yearbook-2008, Datamonitor, HRD Report 2005, UGC Report 2006

 

 

Higher Education

The hallmark of Indian higher education since Independence has been growth. The growth and expansion of education in the first three decades, particularly, was rapid. In the 1950s and 1960s, the rate of growth of higher education in India was 13-14 per cent per year (Singh, 2003). During 1971-81, the rate of growth was around 9 per cent and in the last decade the growth rate was about 6 per cent. The Indian higher education system is one of the largest in the world. It consists of colleges, universities, institutions of national importance (such as Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institute of Science, etc.), and autonomous institutions with the status of deemed universities.  At the end of the 1980s, about 10 million students were enrolled in 188 universities and in about 14 thousand colleges (Tilak and Varghese, 1991). Each decade since then has shown expansion of Indian Higher educationi. The expansion of higher education can be assessed in terms of number of institutions, enrolment, faculty and research. As on 31.03.2006, there were 355 universities including 20 Central, 216 State, 101 Deemed Universities, 5 Institutions established under State Legislation, 13 Institutes of National Importance and 18,064 colleges in the Higher education sector in Indiaii.During the years 2005-2006, the total enrolment in all courses and levels in regular stream had been 110.28 lakhs, including 44.66 lakh women students constituting 40.50%. Out of the total enrolment of students (110.28 lakhs), 45.13% students have been in the faculty of Arts, followed by Science 20.45% and Commerce 18%, thus constituting 83.59% enrolment in just three faculties. While the remaining 16.41% enrolment, has been in professional faculties. The growth in the enrolment pattern is summed up in Table 1 of appendix.

 

Higher Education in India is monitored by an apex body, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), which has classified higher education in mainly two streams: (i) Universities, which include “Central-State-Deemed” universities and other national, research and “Institutions of national importance” Institutes; and (ii) Colleges, include all general, Engineering, Medical, Teacher-Training and other Law/Management/MCA types. The details are given in Table 2.

 

Table 2: Classifications of Universities, Institutions and Colleges by MHRD

Type of Institutions

Numbers

I-Universities

 

1. Central Universities

18

2. State Universities

275

3. Institutions under States Legislature Act

5

4. Institution Deemed to be University

96

5. Institutions of National Importance

13

6. Research Institutes

136

Total

543

II-Colleges

 

1. General Education

10,377

2. Engg., Tech & Arch.

1,302

3. Medical (Allo/Ayur/Homeo/ Unani)

817

4. Teachers Training

1,082

5. Others (Law,/Mgt./ MCA/ IT/Agri etc.)

2,431

Total

16,009

Source: Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2004-05

 

 

   

Enrolment  (Discipline-Wise)        

Enrolment in higher education in India is growing with a steady growth rate of 6.1%. The distribution of students, across various disciplines is an important aspect of higher education. Science and Engineering are particularly important for a country, especially for developing countries like India. Figure 5(a) provides the percent of enrolment pattern in various disciplines during 2005-2006.

 

Fig 5 (a).  Faculty-Wise Enrolment of Students : 2005-06

Source: University Grants Commission, Annual Report 2005-2006

 

Out of the total enrolment of students around 45.13% students are in the faculty of Arts, followed by Science 20.45% and Commerce 18%, thus constituting 83.59% enrolment in just three faculties, while the remaining 16.41% enrolment is in professional faculties. In a country like India, where Agriculture is one of the main occupations, the enrolment in Agricultural Courses is just 0.58 percent and in Veterinary Science, it is miniscule 0.15 percent. A need for policy change, which may reduce the disparity, is thus evident. But what has been the trend? Figure 5 reveals trends of enrolment in various disciplines over the last few years. Clearly the enrolment in the faculty of Arts (including oriental learning) remains at the top with 40% share of students in the year 2000, plus a steady growth to 46% in the year 2002. In 2003 there was a marginal decline of 1% but thereafter the pattern remained asymptotic till the year 2006. Science enrolment, which includes BSc and BSc honours/MSc/PhD in classical subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, remained the second most popular choice, with a growth rate of 7% and remained at around 20% in share of total students. The third most popular choice is commerce. It has declined over the years, being the second choice in 2000 and before; the growth rate being only 2.69%. Engineering has emerged the fourth largest. It moved from 5th position in the year 2000 and afterwards displacing law. Law tied with medicine at 5th position. Engineering also showed the highest growth rate of 12.65%. All the remaining fields i.e. Agriculture, Veterinary and Law have shown either negative or asymptotic growth trends.

 

Fig 5: Break-up of enrolment in Higher education

Source: Computed from UGC Yearbooks, 2001 to 2006

 

Basic Science:        Figure 6 shows stage wise – undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral - enrolment in basic science streams. The male to female ratio in science enrolment is approximately 60:40 and remains consistent over the years.  Let the enrolment at UG in science level be our stock of population. Considering it as 100% we may draw certain inferences.  For example, comparing this with the enrolling students at MSc level can give us an idea of the dropout among “Passed out BSc” to “MSc entry level”; which is approximately 6%. According to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) the number of passing out Science students at graduate level is around 3,27,775. This is approximately 21% of the total BSc level entrants. The blue-hatched line at 21% shows an imaginary curve considering that the trend remained consistent with the enrolling students. Some of the key observations drawn are:

 

  1. More than 78% students’ dropout after BSc. Thus only 21% of the science studying population opts to go to the next level of education; i.e. MSc level.
  2. The second set of trends shows only 14.37% of the population actually getting into MSc; which means 6% dropped out. This may be attributed to the fact that most BSc pass outs eventually join engineering or medicine, thus never entering MSc level. Second trend (green hatchet line) shows the passing out population at MSc level. It is approximately 5% of the total enrolment at BSc level. Out of this 2.8 % are males and 2.15 % are females.  This corresponds to 10% failure at MSc level.
  3. The plot shows that approximately 4.0% of total at BSc level get into PhD level, which corresponds to a very high success rate from MSc passing out to PhD aspirants. It also shows that out of this group, 2.45 % corresponds to males and 1.54 % to females.

 

Fig 6: Percentage of enrolment at BSc Level

Note: Total enrolment at BSc level in 2005 = 1490785

Source: Computed from MHRD reports, UGC reports and Edustat Data

 

Engineering: Figure 7 shows enrolment trend in the engineering and polytechnic education during 2003 - 2006. It reveals that the engineering enrolment has taken a sharp rise during 2005-2006.

 

 

Fig 7: Enrolment at Graduate level in Engineering degree

Source: Edustat and MHRD 2003

 

Figure 8 shows the same enrolments in terms of the percentage. It clearly demonstrates engineering and polytechnic as a male dominated field. However, it shows that the enrolment of women into engineering is on a rising trend over the previous years. In fact in India the participation of women in engineering remained negligible till the early 1980s. The enrolment of females has been less than one percent of the total enrolment within the field of engineering till 1960s; it rose to 8.3 by the mid 1990s and by the year 2000 it has come to 16.2 percent (Kumar, 2007).

 

Fig 8. Percentage enrolment at Graduate level in Engineering degree and Polytechnics

Source: Edustat and MHRD 2004-05

 

Figure 9 shows a ratio of Diploma vs Degree in engineering in some important disciplines of technical education in India. Automobile engineering has been the most preferred choice in India with a highest ratio of Diploma to Degree, but it reveals a declining trend over the years. Metallurgical engineering remains as the second most sought after branch with the ratio on a slight increase. This indicates that material science may be one of the most promising fields during coming years. Textile engineering remains at third position followed by Civil, Electrical and Mechanical engineering. Most of these streams of engineering show a near constant ratio over the years except Metallurgy and Electronics, which showed positive slope and Automobile Engineering, which showed negative slope.

 

Fig 9. Break-up Diploma/Degree in Engineering in India

Source:  IAMR, Yearbook, 2008

 

 

Figure 10 shows the state-wise breakup of engineering at graduate level. It shows inter-state variations in terms of enrolments. Andhra Pradesh along with other three southern states has the highest enrolments in engineering education. North Eastern states show the lowest number of enrolments in the engineeringiii.

 

Fig 10.  State wise enrolment in Engineering at Graduate level, 2006

Source:  MHRD,2005 and Indiastat database

 

 

Medical Science:     Medical education assumed considerable importance during the British Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Calcutta Medical College was founded as early as 1835. Among the various sub-disciplines of science, medicine was the first to attract Indian females. Medicine continues to be an important field of education in the contemporary society as well.

Fig 11. Break-up of enrolment in Medical Sciences

Source:  Indiaeducationstat database

 

Figure 11 clearly reveals that the: 

 

Fig 12.  State wise Enrolment of Medical Students at Graduate level, 2006

Source:  Indiastat database

 

Stage-wise Patterns of Enrolment:       The enrolment position in the academic year 2005-06 reveals that majority of students in the higher education system were enrolled for a variety of courses at the under-graduate level. The students at this level constitute (provisionally) 88.91 per cent of the total number of students in colleges and universities put together. The percentage of students enrolled for Master’s level courses was 9.42 per cent while a very small proportion i.e. 0.64 per cent of the total number of students were doing research. Similarly, only 1.03 per cent of the total number of students was enrolled in diploma/certificate courses

 

Sl.

No.

Stage

University Depts. / University Colleges

Affiliated Colleges

Total (% to Grand Total)

Percentage in Affiliated Colleges

1.

Graduate

950,892

8,854,085

9,804,977

(88.91)

90.30

2.

Post-Graduate

347,096

691,714

1,038,810

(9.42)

66.58

3.

Research

64,161

6,555

70,716

(0.64)

9.27

4.

Diploma / Certificate

64,644

48,873

113,517

(1.03)

43.05

Grand Total

1,426,793

9,601,227

11,028,020

(100.00)

87.06

Source: UGC

 

Most of the students in the higher education system were enrolled in affiliated colleges. About 90.30 per cent of all the under-graduate students and 66.58 per cent of all the post-graduate students were in the affiliated colleges, as compared to the total enrolment at UG & PG levels, while the remaining were in the universities and their constituent colleges. In contrast, 90.73 per cent of the research students were in the universities. In diploma/certificate courses too, university departments/university colleges together had an edge over the affiliated colleges. However, the fact that majority of students enroll in the affiliated colleges where the foundations of higher education are being laid, demands greater financing of this sector particularly with reference to promotion of relevance, access and equity, quality and excellence.

 

Doctoral Level:      Doctoral degree signifies achievement at a high level of training and indicates the availability of human capital with the capacity to generate original knowledge and innovations, through advanced research. Table 5 provides details about the doctorates awarded in various disciplines during 2003-2005.

 

Table 5: Faculty-Wise Number of Doctorate Degrees Awarded In 2003-2004 and 2004-2005

 

Faculty

Number of Doctorate Degrees Awarded

2003-2004**

2004-2005**

Arts

7473

7532

Science

5612

5549

Commerce/Management

1096

1010

Education

613

491

Engineering/Technology

882

968

Medicine

317

456

Agriculture

1026

888

Veterinary Science

116

132

Law

144

179

Others*

574

693

Total

17,853

17,898

 

* Others include Music/Fine Arts, Library Science, Physical Education, Journalism, Social Work, etc.

** Provisional                                                                                       

Source: UGC

                                                          

The number of research degrees (Ph.D.) awarded during 2004-2005 was 17,898. Out of this, the Faculty of Arts had the highest number with 7,532 Degrees, followed by the Faculty of Science with 5,549 Degrees. These two faculties together accounted for 73.09% of the total number of research degrees awarded by various universities. Figure 13 reveals the percentage of sciences and other S&T streams to the total number of PhDs awarded during the period 1997 - 2001.

 

  

 Fig 13. Break-up of PhDs awarded in Sciences and Engineering in India

Source: Indiastat Database

 

Fig 14.  State wise awarded PHDs in Sciences and Engineering

Source:  Indiastat database

 

Fig 15: India’s top University in number of PhD produced in Engineering

Source: Vidyanidhi, 1995-2005                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 16. India’s top Universities in number of PHD’s produced in Basic Sciences

Source:  Vidyanidhi 1995-2005

 

A Comparison with other Asian countries

A comparison with other Asian countries on certain parameters of educational achievement, especially in the field of science and engineering may be desirable. Figure 17 compares India and other Asian countries in terms of Doctorates in science and figure 18 compares them in terms of number of engineering doctorates.

 

Fig 17. Number of Doctorates in Science: selected Asian Countries

Source: National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2006

 

 

 

 

 

Note:

1. The growth in India can be divided into two phases. The first phase consists of the period from 1947 to 1990 followed by second phase from 1990 to the current time. After the independence the Indian government supported higher education by setting up many universities and colleges. Some grant-in-aid institutions or private aided institutions also came into the existence. During the years 1980s, demands for quality higher education relevant to the needs of business and industry were felt. There was a substantial increase in the middle class population and higher income groups, which could afford to pay higher tuition fees. This allowed the entry of private enterprise in the area of higher education. The economic reforms in India during the early 1990s became another important event for the growth of its higher education system. The rising demand of higher education and the growing economy accelerated the pace of growth and the number of private institutions increased significantly. Until the liberalization of the economy in the early nineties, higher education was publicly funded by the federal/central and provincial/state governments. Since the early nineties, private autonomous institutions were permitted to be set up on a liberal scale.

2. Out of 216 State Universities, 60 State Universities and 2 institutions out of 5 institutions established through state legislation have not yet been declared eligible to receive central assistance under Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act, 1956 amended from time to time.

3. However while doing state-wise comparisons one has to keep in mind the variations in size, population and the number of colleges in the states.

 

 

 

References:

 

 

 

Appendix

 

Table 1: ALL INDIA GROWTH OF STUDENTS ENROLMENT: 1984-85 to 2005-2006

Year

Total Enrolment

Increase  over the previous year

Percentage

1984-85

34,04,096

96,447

        2.9

1985-86

36,05,029

2,00,933

        5.9

1986-87

37,57,158

1,52,129

        4.2

1987-88

40,20,159

2,63,001

        7.0

1988-89

42,85,489

2,65,330

        6.6

1989-90

46,02,680

3,17,191

        7.4

1990-91

49,24,868

3,22,188

        7.0

1991-92

52,65,886

3,41,018

        6.9

1992-93

55,34,966

2,69,080

        5.1

1993-94

58,17,249

2,82,283

        5.1

1994-95

61,13,929

2,96,680

        5.1

1995-96

65,74,005

4,60,076

        7.5

1996-97

68,42,598

2,68,593

        4.1

1997-98

72,60,418

4,17,820

        6.1

1998-99

77,05,520

4,45,102

        6.1

1999-2000

80,50,607

3,45,087

        4.5

2000-2001

83,99,443

3,48,836

        4.3

2001-2002

89,64,680

5,65,237

   6.7

2002-2003 *

95,16,773

5,52,093

        6.2

2003-2004**

99,53,506

4,36,733

        4.6

2004-2005**

104,81,042

5,27,536

        5.3

2005-2006**

110,28,020

5,46,978

        5.2

* Provisional

** Estimated

Source: UGC Annual Report 2005-2006

 

 

 

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