Student enrolments in post-secondary and tertiary institutions during academic year 2020-2021 increased by 3.3% over the preceding academic year, totalling 27,944.

Post-secondary students enrolled in sixth forms and other post-secondary institutions totalled 9,608 during academic year 2020-2021, a decrease of 0.1% over the previous academic year.

This information was made available by the National Statistics Office.

The largest proportion of post-secondary students (88.4%) were aged 19 years and under.

Foreign students enrolled in such institutions amounted to 1,150, accounting for 12% of the total students enrolled at post-secondary level. The share of 16-17-year-old students at the post-secondary level accounted for 78.7% of the 16-17-year-old resident population, increasing by 1.8 percentage points from the previous academic year.

The NSO said that the vast majority of students at the post-secondary level were enrolled in state-run institutions (85.8%). Half of the students at the post-secondary level were enrolled in general orientation, whereas the other half were enrolled in vocational orientation.

The most popular field of study among vocational students was 'Services' (22.7%), followed by 'Engineering, manufacturing and construction' (16.3%) and 'Business, administration and law' (14.6%).

Students enrolled in tertiary level courses numbered 18,336 during academic 2020-2021, an increase of 5.2% when compared to academic year 2019-2020. Female students made up 59.1% of the total students enrolled at the tertiary level. The number of students at this level who were studying on a full-time basis amounted to 11,995, or 65.4% of the total. Part-time enrolments showed an increase of 9.4% over the previous academic year, the NSO said.

The largest proportion of tertiary students (50.8%) were engaged in courses at ISCED level 6 (Bachelor's or equivalent), followed by ISCED level 7 (Master's or equivalent) at 33%. Most tertiary students were aged between 20 and 24 years (39.1%), followed by those under 20 years (17.6%).

Female students outnumbered their male counterparts at all tertiary ISCED levels.

During academic year 2020-2021, foreign students following courses at a tertiary level institutions totalled 3,233, equivalent to 17.6% of all tertiary enrolments. This accounted to an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the previous academic year.

At the tertiary level, the most popular fields of study were 'Business, administration and law' with 4,927 students or 26.9% of the total, and 'Health and welfare' with 3,291 students or 17.9% of the total. The least popular fields of study at the tertiary level were 'Generic programmes and qualifications not further defined' with only 4 students and 'Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary' scoring an uptake of only 0.4%.