More Muslim women than men in higher education, shows AISHE data

Total estimated enrolment across categories rose 7.4% in 2021 with growing share of women, AISHE data shows

Women constitute around 503 out of every 1,000 Muslim students enrolled for higher education.

The rise in women’s share of higher education comes amid a drop in overall enrolment of Muslims during the pandemic. Female student figures declined slower than that of their male counterparts, shows an analysis of data from the government’s All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the year 2020-21, which was released over the weekend.

The pandemic is not the only reason for the figure, however. Muslim women’s share has been rising over time, shows an analysis of data from previous reports. The 2019-20 report,