All India Survey on Higher Education Provisional Report

Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal, released the first Provisional Report of the ambitious All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) at New Delhi on September 28. The report contains countrywide estimates of Gross Enrolment Ratio on the basis of data collected till July 31, 2012, from the Higher Education (HE) Institutions of the country including Universities, Colleges, and Stand-Alone Institutions.

The key idea behind this Survey and the resulting document is to prepare a sound database on the large and diverse system of Higher Education in the country. The Survey compiles and manages statistics directly online from respondent institutions. The Ministry has constituted a Task Force to carry out the Survey. This Task Force has representations from stake-holders including the Ministry, the UGC, the AICTE, various Regulatory Bodies, as well as Departments of Higher Education of the States. Shri Sunil Kumar, Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh, the then Additional Secretary in the Department of Higher Education is its Chairman. 



The Provisional Report contains statistical information on various aspects of all the Institutions of Higher Education in India. It is heartening to know that the overall Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of the country stands at 18.8% (based on estimated figures collected till July 31, 2012). The estimated statistics are expected to be revised, considering that data is still being uploaded on the AISHE portal (http://aishe.gov.in or http://aishe.nic.in). Few more detailed reports will be released as the first year of the survey comes to a close. The Ministry has also taken a decision to continue the Survey on annual basis which will replace the existing manual system of data collection in higher education.

The entire survey has been voluntary, based on motivation of respondents; and without any statutory mandate in place for collecting information of this nature. It needs a Survey like this to bring out the correct and complete picture of the system so that relevant statistics are available to the Central Government as well as State Governments, in order to devise future policies. Besides, the Report will also create immediate awareness of the present status of the Higher Education and its growth since Independence till date.