Synopsis

In the latest All India Survey on Higher Education for 2023-24, it was revealed that merely 55 percent of universities engaged with the NIRF rankings, while 56 percent adopted four-year undergraduate programs.

New Delhi: Only 55 per cent universities participated in the government's NIRF rankings while 56 per cent of them have introduced the four-year undergraduate courses so far, according to Centre's All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report for 2023-24.

The Ministry of Education on Wednesday released the reports of the AISHE for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24.

The AISHE collects detailed information from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country through a web-based Data Capture Format (DCF). Institutions upload data on student enrolment, faculty and staff, infrastructure, examination results and the like on the AISHE portal.

AISHE serves as the primary source of official statistics on higher education in India and provides critical insights for policy formulation, planning and monitoring of the sector.

In AISHE 2023-24, 1,289 universities, university-level institutions, 48,246 colleges and 15,221 standalone institutions were registered. Out of them, 1,278 universities, 46,468 colleges and 11,787 standalone institutions have responded in the survey.

The number of universities that have been registered with AISHE has increased to 1,289 in 2023-24 from 1,043 in 2019-20.

To track the progress and implementation of various aspects of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 in HEIs, AISHE has collected information from universities and colleges across the country for the first time through the NEP module.

According to the report, only 55 per cent universities participated in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) while 15 per cent participated in international rankings.

Fifty-six per cent universities have introduced four-year undergraduate programmes while 58 per cent of them have adopted the National Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes.

Sixty-five per cent universities have established research and development cell (RDC) while 41 per cent of them have internship cells, 58 per cent of them have entrepreneurship and innovation cells and only seven per cent universities have apprenticeship cells.

Forty-nine per cent universities offer multiple entry and exit in academic programmes while 30 per cent universities are offering courses related to the Indian knowledge system (IKS).

Only four per cent universities have collaborated with other institutes for joint degree programmes while 26 per cent of them have collaborations with foreign institutions.

The total enrolment in higher education has increased to nearly 4.5 crores in 2023-24, up by 3.7 lakhs since the previous year.