Women applicants outnumber men for PG, M Phil courses

The number of female students pursuing Post Graduate, M Phil and certificate courses is higher than males but there are more men than women at undergraduate level and diploma courses, according to a nation-wide higher education survey by the HRD ministry. The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15 (provisional) says there are 53 per cent male and 47 percent female students at the undergraduate level.

This ratio, however, changes at the post graduate level where the number of women is higher at 51 percent against 49 per cent men. However, when it comes to enrolment for PhDs, men outnumber women. As per the AISHE data, at the PhD level, there are 60 per cent men against 40 per cent women. The gap is greater with regard to diploma courses where there 72 per cent males and only 28 per cent females.

In Post Graduate diploma and Integrated Courses too, men outnumber women. In Certificate courses, the number of women is higher than men. The survey estimated the total enrolment in Higher Education at 33.3 million with 17.9 million men and 15.4 million women, about 46 per cent of the gross enrolment.

The survey data, which was released recently, also says the highest number of students enrolled for undergraduate courses. Out of the total students, 79.9 per cent students are enrolled at the undergraduate level, the survey report said, while only 11.45 per cent of the students were enrolled at Post Graduate level.