New Delhi: The popular Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) courses seem to be falling out of favour with Indian students at the undergraduate level.
According to the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19 released Saturday, the enrolment numbers for both B.Tech and B.A. fell in comparison to 2014-15.
Five years ago, the enrolment in the B.A. course across the country was 98.6 lakh. In 2018-19, this figure fell to 91.9 lakh. Similarly, the enrolment figure for B.Tech fell from 42.5 lakh in 2014-15 to 37.7 lakh the past academic year.
However, enrolment rose in all other undergraduate level programmes, including Bachelor of Science (B.Sc), Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com), Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).
The biggest jump was registered in the B.Ed programme, where enrolment reached over 11 lakh in 2018-19 from 6.5 lakh in 2014-15.
All the programmes at the Masters level also showed an increase in enrolment.
Rise in overall numbers
According to the AISHE 2018-19 survey, the overall enrolment of students at all levels increased by 9.3 per cent — from 3.42 crore students in 2014-15 to 3.74 the past academic year.
The Gross Enrolment Ratio also increased from 24.3 to 26.3 in the same period.
Looking at gender wise enrolment, the year 2018-19 saw the largest number of women in higher education. Over 1.81 crore women were enrolled into higher education at various levels this year — up from 1.57 crore five years ago. In comparison, over 1.92 crore men enrolled into higher education this year.
The AISHE report was released Saturday by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank during a meeting with state education ministers. A draft of the New Education Policy, which is yet to be finalised, was also discussed during the meeting.
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