India's Higher Education GER Stalls at 30% as Colleges Multiply

The Ministry of Education’s All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the 2023‑24 academic year shows that the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Indian higher education is 30.0%, well below the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 target of 50% by 2035. The GER rose only 0.5 percentage points from 29.5% in 2022‑23, indicating a pace insufficient to meet the 2035 goal.

Total higher‑education enrolment increased marginally to 4.50 crore students (45 million) from 4.46 crore the previous year, while the number of colleges grew from 44,519 to 46,468, adding nearly 2,000 institutions. Despite the infrastructure expansion, student headcount slipped from 3.125 crore (31.25 million) to 3.11 crore (31.1 million). Female participation outpaces male, with a female GER of 31.2% versus 28.9% for males.

Implementation of NEP reforms remains uneven: only 56% of surveyed universities have introduced the four‑year undergraduate programme, and just 49% have adopted other flexibility measures such as multiple entry and exit options.