The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) is an annual, web-based statistical concept and exercise initiated by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. It was launched in 2011, collecting data for the academic year 2010-11, to address the problem that no single source provided a complete and authentic picture of the country's higher education system. The survey was established under the scheme Higher Education Statistics and Public Information System (HESPIS) during the XII Five Year Plan.
The mechanism involves all higher education institutions—categorized as Universities, Colleges, and Stand-alone Institutions—voluntarily uploading data to a dedicated portal after being assigned a unique AISHE Code. Data is collected on various parameters, including student enrollment across eight levels (such as undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD), faculty details, infrastructure, and education finance. The collected data is used to calculate key indicators like the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), Gender Parity Index (GPI), and Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR).
AISHE connects directly to national policy-making, providing the evidence base for monitoring initiatives like the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It is a collaborative effort involving State Governments and regulatory bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), which initiated the survey, was recently renamed the Ministry of Education. The latest report released was for 2021-22, published in January 2024, and the survey continues to track the impact of structural changes like the four-year undergraduate program introduced under NEP 2020.