Despite efforts to boost the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, the number of students enrolling in traditional courses in Uttar Pradesh has declined in the 2024-25 academic session, according to government data.
Surprisingly, this drop comes even as the number of private universities and colleges in the state has increased. The data reveals a decrease of approximately 1.5 lakh students compared to the previous academic year. According to the income-expenditure report presented by the UP higher education department in the state assembly recently, 53,28,969 students were studying in traditional courses in the 2024-25 session in varsities and degree colleges spread across the 75 districts of the state, while the number of students studying in them in the 2023-24 session was 54,76,441, clearly amounting to a fall in student strength by 1,47,472 compared to the previous academic session.
Though the report, a copy of which is with HT, makes no mention of the reasons behind this fall in the count of students, it does share that the number of private colleges in the state was 7,924 in the 2023-24 session, which increased to 7,984 in the 2024-25 academic session.
Likewise, the number of private universities in UP was 38 in the 2023-24 session and increased to 47 in the 2024-25 session. That is, during this period, 60 private colleges and nine private universities were opened, but the number of students did not increase. The private universities that were opened in 2024 in the state included Saroj International University in Lucknow, Sharda University in Agra, JSS University in Noida, HRIT University in Ghaziabad, GS University in Hapur, Future University in Bareilly, Vidya University in Meerut, Chandigarh University in Unnao and Vivek University in Bijnor, the report informs.
{{/usCountry}}Likewise, the number of private universities in UP was 38 in the 2023-24 session and increased to 47 in the 2024-25 session. That is, during this period, 60 private colleges and nine private universities were opened, but the number of students did not increase. The private universities that were opened in 2024 in the state included Saroj International University in Lucknow, Sharda University in Agra, JSS University in Noida, HRIT University in Ghaziabad, GS University in Hapur, Future University in Bareilly, Vidya University in Meerut, Chandigarh University in Unnao and Vivek University in Bijnor, the report informs.
{{/usCountry}}“The state government is serious about the low count of students enrolling in higher education institutions. Every effort is being made to increase the registration of students in higher education courses in the coming session of 2025-26. For this, special initiatives will be taken to encourage youngsters to take admissions in the wide variety of courses on offer in institutions across UP,” said Amit Bhardwaj, director of higher education, UP.
Year Registration
2024-25 53,28,969
2023-24 54,76,441
2022-23 44,18,809
2021-22 45,40,605
2020-21 50,21,277
2019-20 41,83,992
2018-19 43,82,527