Higher Education In India: A Data Compendium attempts to put together the latest available information on higher education in India at a single location. While higher education is an extremely dynamic segment in India’s education sector, yet a host of issues related to a lack of a good and comprehensive monitoring system have prevented the regular publishing of data on this sector. Data does exist, but it tends to be infrequently published, dated, not comparable and many times of poor quality. Laveesh Bhandari, with Sumita Kale and Chandra Shekhar Mehra present here the most appropriate data that is credible, from government or associated data sources. This compendium of data simplifies for the reader, the gamut of issues that must be kept in mind, before interpreting the data on higher education. This book will be of immense use and interest to educationists, policy-makers and student of varied disciplines including economics and demographics.

Laveesh Bhandari is the Director and Chief Economist of Indicus Foundation. He has studied in Boston, worked for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Delhi. A well-known commentator on all facets of the economy, he has authored and co-authored numerous publications on socio-economic development, health, education, poverty, inequality, etc. His work on the performance of states and districts with Bibek Debroy and other co-authors is referred to widely. He writes frequently for mainstream newspapers – Business Standard, Economic Times, India Today, etc.

Sumita Kale is a financial and macro-economist. She works extensively on financial inclusion as well as tracking the Indian economy. Sumita Kale has an MPhil in Economics of Developing Countries from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pune. She has worked at various reputed institutions such as Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, National Insurance Academy, and the Department of Economics, University of Pune.

Chander Shekhar is an applied economist with interest and experience in research in the field of education and labour. Chander Shekhar has contributed and co-authored reports for different agencies of the United Nations, the recent one has been the ‘Estimating the Number of Out of Children: India Case Study’, by UNESCO Institute of Statistics and UNICEF. Chander Shekhar has completed masters in economics.

1. Background || Data and Methodology | Structure of the Handbook | Limitations: Some Key Issues with Respect to Data

2. India’s Population and its Educational Profile || Population | Education Level | Higher Education Profile

3. Enrolment in Higher Education || Growth in Enrolment in Higher Education | Enrolment Ratios in Higher Education | Enrolment across Levels of Higher Education Enrolment across Fields of Higher Education | Mode of Access to Higher Education

4. Institutions and Institutional Capacity || Institutions and Specialization | Specialization amongst Institutions | Academic System in Higher Education Institutions

5. Higher Education in States in India

6. Role of Private Higher Education in India

7. Professional Councils

8. Equity in Access to Higher Education || Equity in Educational Attainment of Workforce | I. Gender Equity | II. Rural-urban Divide | III. Equity amongst Income Levels | IV. Equity amongst Social and Religious Groups | Equity in Enrolment in Higher Education || I. Gender Parity | II. Rural-urban Divide | III. Equity amongst Income Levels | IV. Equity across Social and Religious Groups

9. Measuring Quality of Higher Education || Faculty | Rate of Students Passing | NAAC Accreditation

10. Financing Higher Education || Public Funding | Gender Budgeting: Department of Higher Education | Application of Private Funds

11. The Workforce: How India uses its Human Capital || Employment in India | Employment, Occupational and Educational Patterns | Differently-utilized Human Resource Capital | (Homemakers and Retired Persons) | Returns to Education

12. Research and Higher Education || Manpower in R&D | Expenditure on R&D | Patents

13. Global Footprints || International Mobility of Students

14. Preparing for a Better Higher Education Ecosystem: Data Issues || A. The Importance of a Unitary, Systematic Data Collection System | B. International Comparability of Data for India | C. A Systematic India Oriented Classification System for Education Institutions | D. Importance of a Universal Rating System | E. Concluding Note

Appendix: Concepts and Definitions

References