Gender Disparity Persists Across BHU and IIT-BHU Enrollments
Data from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-BHU reveals a striking gender imbalance in enrollment patterns. While female students are significantly underrepresented in engineering programs, they outnumber their male counterparts in performing arts and dental courses. The latest figures from 2025 highlight these disparities across multiple faculties.
Engineering Enrollment Shows Wide Gap
At IIT-BHU, the combined strength of undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs totals 9,354 students, of which only 2,018 are women. This translates to a ratio where male students outnumber females by nearly four to one. The trend mirrors a national pattern: across all IITs in India, only 3,664 of the 18,188 available seats in 2025 were filled by female candidates, accounting for roughly 20 percent of the total intake.
Focusing specifically on the B.Tech program at IIT-BHU, the campus has 1,528 seats. During the latest placement drive, 246 female students and 987 male students successfully secured job offers, further underscoring the numerical dominance of male students in the technical stream.
BHU Campus-Wide Statistics Reveal Consistent Imbalance
When combining the main BHU campus with the affiliated Mahila Mahavidyalaya (women’s college), the university hosts approximately 26,000 students. Of these, 16,000 are male and 9,000 are female. Even with the women’s college contributing 2,572 students to the total, the campus-wide ratio shows female enrollment is roughly one and a half times lower than male enrollment.
The disparity becomes even more pronounced in specific faculties. The Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan faculty reports a stark contrast with 729 male students compared to just 31 female students, meaning male enrollment is more than 22 times higher in this department.
Faculties Where Women Lead
Despite the overall trend, two faculties at BHU stand out for having more female students than male. The Dental Sciences faculty enrolls 106 women against 76 men, while the Music and Performing Arts faculty hosts 575 female students, significantly outpacing their male counterparts. These fields appear to attract greater female participation, reversing the university-wide pattern.
Faculties with the Narrowest Gender Gap
Several departments show relatively balanced enrollment figures, with the difference between male and female students being minimal:
- Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development: 63 male, 47 female students
- Ayurveda faculty: 271 male, 207 female students
- Visual Arts faculty: 360 male, 234 female students
- Education faculty: 457 male, 226 female students
- Medicine faculty: 750 male, 520 female students
Faculties with the Widest Gender Gap
On the opposite end of the spectrum, several faculties exhibit substantial differences between male and female enrollments:
- Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan: 729 male, 31 female students
- Law faculty: 1,100 male, 215 female students
- Agricultural Sciences: 879 male, 351 female students
- Arts faculty: 4,500 male, 1,350 female students
- Social Sciences: 2,137 male, 539 female students
These statistics point to a persistent gender divide in higher education, particularly in STEM and traditional academic disciplines. While some creative and healthcare-oriented programs have achieved better balance, the overall campus composition remains skewed. The data raises important questions about the factors influencing subject choices and the measures needed to encourage greater female participation in underrepresented fields.
