Maharashtra has seen a sharp increase in the number of PhD graduates in the last five years. In 2017-18, only 9,206 people were enrolled in doctoral programs, but this increased to 17,832 in 2021-22. This was a significant increase of over 93%. In contrast, nationally, doctoral program enrollment increased by only nearly 32%. The data was revealed in the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22 report released in Delhi on Friday.
At the national level, 212,568 candidates enrolled in doctoral programs in 2021-2022. Five years ago, in 2017-18, this figure was 1,61,412.
According to the report, more men enrolled in doctoral programs in Maharashtra than women. The number of registrants in 2021-22 was 10,115 for men and 7,717 for women. Of the total 15,751 candidates in the state in 2020-21, 9,358 were men and 6,393 were women.
In terms of admissions to postgraduate (PG) courses in Maharashtra, the number of girls has outnumbered boys for the last five consecutive years. Although 2017-18 started with a narrow margin, out of 4,45,783 candidates who registered for PG courses in Maharashtra, 2,31,353 were girls and 2,14,430 were boys. , it was shown that the number has increased significantly over the past five years. In 2021-22, more than half of the 5,87,198 candidates enrolled for PG courses in Maharashtra were girls, and their number was 3,03,894.
The Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) of higher education institutions in Maharashtra has steadily increased over the last five years from 31.4% in 2017-18 to 35.30% in 2021-22. In 2021-22, a total of 45,77,843 candidates enrolled in various higher education courses in Maharashtra, of which the highest number of admissions were at undergraduate level with 3,498,728 students, with a higher proportion of males. It was larger at 1,968,964 people.
While the private sector has the highest number of admissions, the AISHE 2021-22 report showed a continuous increase in the number of private universities in Maharashtra. In 2017-18, there were only four private universities, but in 2021-22, the number increased to 21. Universities in categories such as central universities, national universities, and public universities remain the same as they have been for the past five years.
With 45.78 million students enrolled in various higher education courses, Maharashtra is among the top six states in terms of number of students, after Uttar Pradesh (UP) with 69.73 million students. In terms of number of universities too, Maharashtra ranks second with 4,692 universities after UP with 8,375 universities. However, in terms of teacher contribution, Maharashtra ranked third with 10.5 per cent of the 15,97,688 teachers teaching in various higher education institutions across India. Tamil Nadu has the largest share at 13.1 per cent, followed by UP at 11.2 per cent.
Maharashtra has 4,856 registered international students, ranking third after Karnataka (6,004) and Punjab (5,971).
