Indore: At Ahilya University, girls outnumber boys

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): While boys continue to dominate enrolment scenario in higher education institutions at national level, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV), the only Grade A+ accredited university of the state, paints just a different picture.

At this university, which is named after erstwhile queen of Malwa Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, the girls reign supreme. They pip their male counterparts to post with a huge margin.

Out of total 9,891 undergraduate and postgraduate students on DAVV’s UTD campus, 6,227 are girls. Thus implying that 63% students on UTD campus are girls and boys account for only 37%.

No university in the state has such an impressive representation of fairer sex on their UTD campuses. Jiwaji University, Barkatullah University, Vikram University or Rani Durgawati University, considered among the leading universities of the state, all lag behind DAVV in girl enrolment.

In fact, enrolment figure of boys is more than that of girls in all universities in the state barring DAVV.

DAVV Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Jain explained the reason behind such a scenario. “For us, safety of girls is supreme. We lay special focus on safety issue so parents prefer DAVV to other universities in the state when it comes to sending their daughters for higher studies. Secondly, we are leader in offering professional self-finance courses in the state. Most of the students these days opt for professional courses. Thirdly, we are the only Grade A+ university in the state.”

Dean, student welfare, Dr LK Tripathi also echoed similar views and went on to add that no compliant of ragging of any girl student or misbehaviour by boys has been reported in DAVV in the last one decade.

“We have ensured a conducive atmosphere for girl students in our teaching departments,” he added.

Girls enrolment more than boys in all courses

In 2013, the number of boy students was more than girl students in university teaching departments. But the picture started changing from 2014. Girls started outnumbering boys. The last two years’ figure reveals that girls took a decisive lead in each and every academic programme offered by DAVV.

Programme wise students number on UTD campus

Programmes - No of boys - No of girls - total students

UG (3 yr) course - 451 - 845 - 1296

UG (4 yr) course - 1219 - 1377 - 2596

UG (5 Yr) course - 196 - 268 - 464

PG (2 Yr) course - 1154 - 2181 - 3335

PG-Integrated - 471 - 1177 - 1648

PG (6 Yr) course - 173 - 379 - 552