In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Union Human Resource Minister Shri. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ gave out information as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19. According to the latest survey, there are 39931 colleges in India, out of which 60.53% are located in rural areas. Further, majority of the colleges provide higher education to both males and females and 11.04% colleges are exclusively for females.
Additionally, females constitute 48.6% of the total enrolment in higher education and the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for females in higher education at 26.4% is higher than the national GER of boys at 26.3%. Meanwhile, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) has also increased during the last 5 years, from 0.92 in 2014-15 to 1 in 2018-19.