4,600 students graduated from tertiary level education in 2020, a decrease over 2019

4,629 students graduated from tertiary level education in 2020, equivalent to a decrease of 4.9% over the previous year, statistics by the National Statistics Office reads.

The largest share of tertiary graduates (55.5%) attained a qualification at ISCED Level 6 (Bachelor’s or equivalent). This was followed by 35.8% of total tertiary graduates who attained their qualification at ISCED Level 7 (Master’s or equivalent).

The majority of tertiary graduates (55.8%) were females. Females surpassed males in all levels of tertiary education. The absolute majority, or 61.1% of tertiary level graduates, were aged between 20 and 24 years. During 2020, 75.5% of graduates attained a qualification from a full-time programme.

Foreign graduates totalled 664, equivalent to 14.3% of total tertiary-level graduates, increasing by 1.2 percentage points over the previous year. Non-EU nationals comprised the largest proportion of all foreign tertiary graduates (77%). The ‘Business, administration and law’ field of education was the most popular field amongst tertiary graduates in 2020, accounting for more than one third of the total, at 35.2%. This was followed by graduates in the ‘Health and Welfare’ field of education at 17.7%. ‘Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary’ was the least popular field of education among tertiary graduates, the NSO said.