With a gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 16.5 as compared to national GER of 20.8, the state of Gujarat still has scope of improvement in its overall higher education scenario.
Despite that, the state is ranked third, with only Delhi and Tamil Nadu bettering Gujarat in terms of composite scores in education, as per the latest Annual Status of Higher Education (ASHE) 2014 in States, Gujarat is ranked third only behind Delhi and Tamil Nadu in terms of composite scores in education.
Prepared by Deloitte for Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the ASHE 2014 report annually maps higher education scenario across states as part of the Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.
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The report looks at various aspects of higher education such as enrollment, education indicators, economic indicators, access to higher education institutes, and research facilities, among others.
According to the report, the government has set a GER target of 30 by 2020.
“In such a scenario, Gujarat has lot of scope of improvement since its GER is 16.5 as compared to national GER of 20,” said Rohin Kapoor, Senior Manager, Deloitte in India while commenting on the report.
Despite having the highest number of state government research institutes at 127, Gujarat does not have a single Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in the state. Moreover, in terms of knowledge direction, Gujarat (1.13) is found to be behind states like Maharashtra (2.88), Tamil Nadu (1.63), Karnataka (1.38), Delhi (1.36), and Andhra Pradesh (1.24).
ASHE 2014 reports that Gujarat ranks seventh highest among all states in India with 38 Universities.
Gujarat has 5.9 per cent of all universities in the country.
Further, the state ranks sixth highest on number of general universities with 21 universities whereas the number of degree granting institutions in Gujarat is around 43.
Apparently, with 1780 colleges Gujarat has a share of 5.11 per cent of all colleges in India and ranks eighth on total number of colleges in any state in India.
In terms of access, Gujarat has concentration of 25 colleges per 100,000 population same as the all India average of 25 colleges per 100,000 population.
Moreover, in terms of average enrolment per college, Gujarat (599) is lesser than all India average of 703, whereas the total enrolment of students in regular mode in higher education institutes in Gujarat is around 1.14 million.
Meanwhile, out of the total colleges in the state, 90 per cent are affiliated to universities, and the remaining is constituent/university colleges, PG/off campus or recognized centres by the Universities, ASHE 2014 states.
In terms of management, Gujarat colleges are dominated by the private unaided colleges, forming 40.5 per cent of all colleges in the state, followed closely by 35.3 per cent owned by Government and 24.2% that are privately aided.
Further, the PTR of colleges in Gujarat at 22.7 students per teacher worse than the all India average of 13.1.
Total number of teaching staff and non-teaching staff in all colleges in Gujarat is estimated to be 47,000 and 29,000 respectively (extrapolating data available for 93.5 per cent colleges in state).
However, given the number of colleges in the state, the number of teachers per college (26.3) and non-teaching staff per college (16.5) are lesser than the corresponding all–India levels.
In terms of composite education development index, Gujarat is ranked seventh at 0.63.
Preceding Gujarat are states and union territories like Karnataka (0.69), Tamil Nadu (0.69), Puducherry (0.68), Delhi (0.66), Kerala (0.64), and Maharashtra (0.63).
Kapoor added that Gujarat could also look at sports universities to enhance enrollments in the state.
