Student enrolments in post-secondary and tertiary institutions during academic year 2022-2023 increased by 9% over the preceding academic year, totalling 31,234, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

The number of students enrolled in post-secondary levels stood at 10,114, whilst 21,120 students were enrolled in tertiary education. Males outnumbered females in post-secondary education by 1.4 percentage points, whilst there were more females enrolled in tertiary education than males by 16.4 percentage points, the NSO said.

The NSO said that the information includes students enrolled in formal education with a minimum duration of one semester of full-time study (or the equivalent in part-time) and that are delivered from Malta. Students are included irrespective of whether they are residing in Malta or abroad. The population of educational institutions considered include institutions delivering formal education programmes from Malta, whether online or face-to-face, at post-secondary and tertiary level.

Post-secondary students

Post-secondary students enrolled in sixth forms and other post-secondary institutions totalled 10,114 during academic year 2022-2023, an increase of 5.2% over the previous academic year, it said. "This reference year saw more males than females enrolled at post-secondary level, as was seen in the previous academic year."

The largest proportion of post-secondary students were aged under 19 years (87.2%). "Foreign students enrolled in such institutions amounted to 1,472, accounting for 14.6% of the total students enrolled at post-secondary level."

It said that the vast majority of students at post-secondary level were enrolled in state-run institutions (84.5%). "Slightly more than half of the students were enrolled in courses or programmes of vocational study orientation (54.2%).

The share of 16-17-year-old students enrolled at post-secondary level accounted for 77% of the 16-17-year-old resident population. The share of the 16-17-year-old female population enrolled at post-secondary level was higher than the share of males by 6.9 percentage points, the NSO said.

Tertiary students

Students enrolled in tertiary level courses totalled 21,120 during academic year 2022-2023, an increase of 11% when compared to academic year 2021-2022. "An increase was also reflected in the total number of educational institutions offering tertiary education during this academic year. Female students comprised 58.2% 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 14,568, or 69% of the total. "Part-time enrolments showed an increase of 7.7% over the previous academic year. The largest proportion of students in tertiary education were aged between 20 and 24 years old."

During academic year 2022-2023, foreign students at the tertiary level totalled 6,497, equivalent to 30.8% of all tertiary enrolments, where 15.5% were non-EU nationals and 15.3% were other EU nationals, the NSO said. "This resulted in an increase of 38% of foreign students over the previous academic year."

"The largest proportion of tertiary students were engaged in courses at ISCED level 6 (Bachelor's or equivalent) (51.8%), followed by ISCED level 7 (Master's or equivalent) at 32.9%. Maltese students made up the majority of enrolments in ISCED levels 5 (Short-cycle tertiary education), 6 (Bachelor's or equivalent) and 7 (Master's or equivalent), whilst in ISCED level 8 (Doctoral or equivalent), the majority of students were foreign nationals (75.8%). Female students outnumbered their male counterparts at almost all tertiary ISCED levels, except in ISCED level 8 (Doctoral or equivalent)."

At tertiary level, the most popular field of study was 'Business, administration and law' with 6,023 students, or 28.5% of the total number of students, it said. "This was followed by the 'Health and welfare' field with 4,662 students, or 22.1% of the total. The least popular field of study at tertiary level was 'Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary' scoring an uptake of only 0.4%."

The majority of students enrolled at ISCED level 6 and ISCED level 7 were mainly enrolled in state-run institutions (72.7% and 66.8%, respectively), whilst those in ISCED level 5 and ISCED level 8 were mainly enrolled in independently-run institutions (71.1% and 70.7%, respectively), it said. The fields of study "Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary" and "Education" were mainly composed of Maltese students (97.4% and 93%, respectively), it said.