Even as issues around education have momentarily taken centre-stage amid the protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and activist Sonam Wangchuk in Delhi, the reports based on the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for two years released together after inordinate delay by the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) earlier this month has largely gone unnoticed.

Importantly, the strange trend that has gone unreported is the inexplicable decline in the total number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses across the country.

Such a decline has happened for the first time ever since the Union government started publishing AISHE reports from 2011.

In the government’s own words, AISHE “serves as the primary source of official statistics on higher education in India and provides critical insights for policy formulation, planning, and monitoring of the sector”. Yet, the MoE inordinately delayed the release of these reports.

The AISHE report for 2021-22 had a delayed release in January 2024. More than two years later, the Ministry released the reports for 2022-23 and 2023-24 together earlier this month without much fanfare.

1. Marginal increase in overall enrolments

The total enrolment in higher education, which include undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma, Ph.D and other types of courses, increased by 3.7 lakh (0.8%) in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, which is the lowest-ever increase.

2. UG enrolments drop for the first time

However, the number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses, who account for over 75% of all enrolments, declined by 93,000 (0.27%) in the same period. This is despite the fact that the youth population in the eligible age group saw an increase, along with an increase in the number of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that participated in AISHE, which went up from 56,180 in 2022-23 to 59,533 in 2023-24.

Neither the 2023-24 report, which played up the marginal increase in Gross Enrolment Ratio from 29.5 to 30, nor the Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan, who cited the report to highlight the increased enrolment of female students in STEM courses, have offered an explanation for this decline.

3. Drop noticed only in male students

Interestingly, the decline is seen only among male students at the national level with the number of female students enrolled in undergraduate courses seeing an increase, although they were fewer in numbers than the males.

The enrolment of male students dropped by 2.2% between 2022-23 and 2023-24 while that of female students increased by 1.8%.

4. Drop concentrated in W.B, MH and U.P.

In absolute numbers, three States — West Bengal, Maharashtra (-6%) and Uttar Pradesh (-3%) — accounted for the highest drop in undergraduate enrolments. Union territories such as Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir also saw steep falls in undergraduate enrolments. Delhi, a major hub for education, registered a decline of 6% in students enrolled in undergraduate courses in 2023-24.

The States that saw declines accounted for a drop of over six lakh enrolments. The overall decline in the country would have been far higher, if not for the increase reported in few other States such as Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Karnataka and Odisha. Tamil Nadu in particular recorded the highest increase of 1.6 lakh, which is more than the 1.53 lakh decline reported in Uttar Pradesh.

5. Programme-wise decline

Programme type-wise analysis showed that the decline was in Arts, Sciences, and Commerce. Over six lakh fewer students were pursuing undergraduate Arts courses in 2023-24 compared with 2022-23, a decline of about 5%. Enrolments in Commerce took the next biggest hit by about 2.3 lakh in the same period.

6. U.P’s standout trend

Uttar Pradesh saw a sharp decline in undergraduate enrolments, accompanied by an almost similar increase in enrolments in Diploma courses — a trend not noticed in other major States.

While the number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses dropped by 1.53 lakh, those enrolled in Diploma courses saw a steep increase of 1.38 lakh.

With inputs from Gauri Singavarapu, Gandla Sneha and Sachin Swaraj, who are interning with The Hindu’s Data team

Published - July 22, 2026 10:26 am IST