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Student enrolments in MPhil programmes have decreased by nearly 61.3 per cent over the last five years as the number dipped from 43,267 in 2016-17 to 16,744 in 2020-21, a recent government survey revealed.
According to the latest report of the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), released by the Education Ministry Sunday night, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of MPhil programmes is -21.1. MPhil and Certificate programmes are the only two levels that have seen a decrease in total enrolments this year.
Other research-based programmes, such as PhD and postgraduate degrees, have seen an increase of 50.21% and 17.69%, respectively, in enrolment in the past five years.
| Level | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | Increase/decrease | CAGR |
| MPhil | 43267 | 34109 | 30692 | 23934 | 16744 | -61.30076039 | -21.1 |
| PhD | 141037 | 161412 | 169170 | 202550 | 211852 | 50.21022852 | 10.7 |
| PG | 4007570 | 4114310 | 4042522 | 4312535 | 4716649 | 17.69349007 | 4.2 |
This decrease in enrolment in MPhil courses comes a little after the government’s decision of discontinuing the MPhil programme completely. Under the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the government has advised that the MPhil programme should be discontinued. However, no reason was stated for this.
“HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) will have the flexibility to offer different designs of Master’s programmes: (a) there may be a 2-year programme with the second year devoted entirely to research for those who have completed the 3-year Bachelor’s programme; (b) for students completing a 4-year Bachelor’s programme with Research, there could be a 1-year Master’s programme; and (c) there may be an integrated 5-year Bachelor’s/Master’s programme. Undertaking a PhD shall require either a Master’s degree or a 4-year Bachelor’s degree with Research. The MPhil programme shall be discontinued,” the NEP states.
This year’s AISHE report is based on the responses of 1,084 universities, 40,176 colleges and 8,696 standalone institutions.
