How Inclusive Is Higher Education in India?

Abstract

In the broad context of inclusive growth policies in India, an examination of the growth and inequalities in the country’s higher education is attempted in this article with the help of rich data available from the National Sample Survey (NSS) in several rounds between 1983 and 2009–10. The article is primarily concerned with inequalities in higher education by gender, by social groups—caste and religion, by region—rural and urban and by economic groups of population classified by monthly per capita household expenditure. Considering two important indicators on higher education, namely, gross enrolment ratio and higher education attainment—percentage of adult population having completed higher education, the article examines whether inequalities in higher education have increased or declined overtime. It also throws light on the groups that have improved most over the years in their higher education status and on the decline or increase of inequalities between groups.