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Paper short abstract:

Using the latest education round of household survey data, we investigate the role of social identity (gender and caste) and economic status of household in explaining the variations in access to professional higher education in India. Overall, our results show a significant gender and socioeconomic inequality in access to professional higher education in India.

Paper long abstract:

India has experienced a massive expansion of professional higher education (PHE) courses, particularly in the private sector. However, scant attention has been paid in exploring the socioeconomic contours in accessing PHE, particularly in recent years. Using the latest education round of household survey data, we investigate the role of social identity (gender and caste) and economic status of household in explaining the variations in access to PHE in India. Overall, our results show a significant gender and socioeconomic inequality in access to PHE in India. We find that male students have a significantly higher chance of accessing professional education than their female counterparts, and this pro-male preference is more pronounced for poor households. In addition, youth belonging to schedule caste and schedule tribe backgrounds are less likely to access PHE than forward caste students, and a considerable portion of this difference can

be removed by controls for households’ economic status. These findings are significant for the recently adopted National Education Policy 2020 that aims for making Indian higher education system egalitarian and inclusive.