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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-3711
ANSWERED ON-25/03/2026
HESPIS scheme
3711 Smt. Geeta alias Chandraprabha:
Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:
(a) the institutional arrangements and data governance standards adopted to ensure accuracy,
consistency and timeliness of higher education statistics generated under Higher Education
Statistics and Public Information System (HESPIS);
(b) the manner in which coordination is being ensured with universities, colleges and State
authorities for regular data submission and validation; and
(c) whether any mechanism has been laid down to ensure effective use of HESPIS data for
policy planning, performance review and addressing regional disparities in the higher
education sector?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)
(a) to (c): The arrangements for the conduct of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)
under HESPIS is given below:
State AISHE units have been set up in all major the States under the chairmanship of
the Principal Secretary/Director, Department of Higher Education of concerned States/UTs to
coordinate the survey related activities with the institutions of higher education within the
States/UTs and with Ministry of Education (MoE). The State AISHE units consist of only
State officials including sectoral officers from technical, medical, nursing departments etc. with
State Nodal officer (SNO) as its member secretary. In addition, affiliating universities in the
States have also set up University Cells for coordination with their affiliated colleges. Such
formal arrangement has been made considering the sheer number of the institutions all over the
Country.
Financial support to AISHE State Units (including University cells) are also being
provided under HESPIS scheme for the conduct of survey. The expenditure by the State units
is incurred mainly for coordination with the nodal officers of the institutions in the respective
State/ UT through personal visits and/ or in helping the institutions in getting the data uploaded
as well as for conducting Workshops for clearing the doubts of nodal officers in downloading,
filling and uploading of Data Capture Formats.Regular communications regarding various aspects of the AISHE survey are shared
with SNOs to ensure alignment and timely action. SNOs serve as the critical link between the
Ministry and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), facilitating smooth communication and
implementation on the ground. They are advised to maintain updated details of HEIs to ensure
seamless outreach and to effectively support institutions in the submission of AISHE data.
Many SNOs are making dedicated efforts to achieve 100% participation of HEIs in the survey
within their respective states. SNOs are also awarded for achievement of 100% participation
in HEIs. Prior to the launch of each AISHE survey cycle, pre-launch workshops are conducted
for SNOs. These workshops are aimed at sensitizing them to new developments, strengthening
their understanding of the process, and equipping them to further train HEIs at the state level.
They also provide a platform to address challenges faced in previous survey rounds, resolve
queries, and incorporate feedback from SNOs for continuous improvement of the AISHE
survey process.
The MoE team provides resource person for State level workshops at each States based
on their request. MoE also provides online workshops for States and their HEIs to ensure data
quality. Once the survey is over and data is scrutinized at MoE, the data discrepancies observed
are share with SNOs, and HEIs for correction before finalizing the data.
AISHE provides standardised and comparable data on enrolment, faculty, results and it
also calculates key indicators like Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), Gender Parity Index (GPI),
Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) which supports evidence-based policy formulation and
benchmarking across states and institution types. Its comprehensive national coverage across
universities, colleges, and standalone institutions allows for an overall picture of the higher
education ecosystem, cutting across regulatory domains (UGC, AICTE, etc.) and state
jurisdictions. The availability of disaggregated data (by State, gender, social category,
discipline, etc.) enables targeted analysis aligned with equity, inclusion, and access objectives
under National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Implementation of various parameters of NEP
2020 is being monitored through AISHE surveys since 2021.
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