AISHE Report: SC, ST faculty at just 10% and 3%, women drop from 44% at entry level to 27% at professor rank

Scheduled Caste (SC) teachers constitute just 10% of the total faculty in higher education institutions and Schedule Tribe (ST) teachers only 3%, falling well short of the mandated 15% and 7.5% reservation quotas, respectively, revealed the latest All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) data released by the education ministry recently. Tamil Nadu recorded the best social category representation at 12.6%, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 12.1%

The survey also points to a steep drop in women's representation. Women constitute 44% of the total number of faculty at the assistant professor level – the first level of entry – but this falls to just 27% at the professor level. Among all teachers, 67.2% are lecturers/assistant professors, 9.8% are reader/associate professors and 9.7 % are professors.

The 2023-24 AISHE saw participation of 1,278 universities, 46,468 colleges and 11,787 standalone institutions. The education ministry on Wednesday released the data for two academic years – 2022-23 and 2023-24 – after almost four years.

AISHE Report: SC, ST teachers constitute 10% and 3%

The total number of teachers reported in 2023-24 data is 17,32,294. Among them, women representation in the ST category is much better than the others. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) representation, meanwhile, stands at 32% as against the mandated 27.5%.

Muslim and minority teachers working at HEIs constitute about 5.7% and 8.5%, respectively.

Out of total Muslim minority teachers, 13.7% are from Uttar Pradesh, 9.7% from Kerala, 9.6% from Karnataka, 9.5% from Maharashtra and 8.2% from Telangana. Out of total other minority teachers reported, 19.0% are from Tamil Nadu, 16.2% are from Punjab, and 13.7% are from Kerala.

AISHE Final Report: Skewed women representation

The total number of teachers at university level is around 3 lakh out of which 59.6% are male and 40.4% female. At the college level, the total number of teachers is 12.6 lakh – 54.2% male and 45.8% female.

These numbers start decreasing as the faculty move up the academic ladder to the senior level of associate professor and professor. Central universities and state public universities lag further in terms of this representation.

While at the assistant professor level, there are a total of 1,76,575 teachers, with women constituting about 44%, at the level of associate professor and professor, the numbers show a massive drop. It is not just women representation, the number of faculty at various levels also decreases significantly.

In universities across the country, teachers have complained about delays in promotions.

Institutes of National Importance (INI), which includes the IITs and NITs at the level of professor, women constitute just about 18% of the total 6,575 teachers. At central universities, the number stands at 22%.

In the second level of associate professors at IITs, women teachers stand at about 22% – at the assistant professor level, it is 25%.

It is the state private universities which contribute to the largest pool of assistant professors at 80,148 with gender representation at about 46% female.

Meanwhile, a look at the PhD enrolment data reveals that out of the total 2,92,552 students, women constitute 49%. PhD is a necessary requirement for entry as an assistant professor.

Among the states, Kerala is one which has the highest number of female teachers as against male, followed by Punjab and Nagaland.