During the XII Plan, an outlay of Rs.110700.00 crore has been provided to Department of Higher Education. The XII Plan will build on the momentum generated during the XI Plan and continue the focus on the Three Es’ (Expansion, Equity and Excellence). All three segments have to be expanded to achieve enrolment capacity of 10 million students including One million in open and distance learning by the end of the XII Plan. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education (calculated for the age group of 18-23 years) is 20.4 during 2011-12 (Provisional). The XII Five Year Plan aims to raise the country’s GER to 25.2 by 2017-18 and to reach the target of 30 by 2020-21.

As per AISHE [(All India Survey on Higher Education 2012-13 (Provisional)], there were 665 Universities and 35829 colleges having enrolment of 29629022 students.

This information was given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Prof. (Dr.) Ram Shankar Katheria in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.

Source: PIB