Number of post-secondary, tertiary students up 4.1% - NSO

Student enrolments in post-secondary and tertiary institutions during academic year 20172018 increased by 4.1% over the preceding academic year, totalling 25,628, the NSO said yesterday.

Post-secondary students enrolled in Sixth Forms and other post-secondary institutions totalled 10,408 during academic year 2017-2018, an increase of 2.1% over the previous academic year. The largest proportion of these students (85.4%) was aged between 15 and 19. Foreign students enrolled in such institutions amounted to 1,050, accounting for 10.1% of the total students enrolled at post-secondary level.

The vast majority of enrolments (85.3%) at this level were in state-run institutions. Those enrolled in vocational institutions accounted for 50.7% of total students at post-secondary level.

Tertiary students enrolled in tertiary level courses numbered 15,220 during academic year 2017-2018, an increase of 5.5% when compared to academic year 2016-2017. Female students comprised of 55.9% of the total students enrolled in tertiary level courses.

The number of students at this level who were studying on a fulltime basis amounted to 10,825, or 71.1% of the total. Nevertheless, part-time enrolments showed an increase of 14.9% over the previous academic year. The largest proportion of tertiary students (56.2%) were engaged in courses at ISCED level 6 (Bachelor’s or equivalent), followed by enrolments at ISCED level 7 (Master’s or equivalent) with 29.3%.

Most tertiary students were aged between 20 and 24 (45.6 %), followed by those under 20 years (21.2%). Female students outnumbered their male counterparts at almost all ISCED levels of tertiary education except at ISCED 8 (PhD equivalent).

During academic year 20172018, foreign students totalled 1,623, accounting for 10.7% of all tertiary level enrolments. This accounted to an increase of 2.3 percentage points over the previous academic year.

The most popular fields of study were ‘Business, administration and law’ with 4,107 students or 27% of the total, and ‘Health and welfare’ with 3,147 students or 20.7% of the total. The least popular field of study at the tertiary level was ‘Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary’ scoring an uptake of only 0.4%.