The 21st century has already experienced an accelerated growth and global expansion of higher education. The gross enrolment ratio (GER) doubled from 19% to 38% between 2000 and 2018. The sector experienced an average annual increase of around 6.5 million students in the first two decades of this century against an increase of 2.45 million students between 1980 and 2000.
According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, global enrolment in tertiary education reached 236.8 million in 2021. More importantly, women became the majority in colleges and universities, accounting for 52% of the total global enrolment.
Higher education enrolment in the Global South increased by 91%. The countries of Sub-Saharan African experienced the highest increase of 125% between 2000 and 2018. China and India expanded most rapidly and increased their share in global enrolment to nearly 40% in 2021. It is expected that Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the only region with a continuously growing youth population and higher education enrolment in the coming years.
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