Number of students in post-secondary, tertiary education up 4.6% in 2023-24

Student enrolments in post-secondary and tertiary institutions during academic year 2023-2024 increased by 4.6 per cent over the preceding academic year, totalling 32,675, the NSO said Thursday.

This news release 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.

The number of students enrolled in post-secondary levels stood at 10,399, whilst 22,276 students were enrolled in tertiary education. Males outnumbered females in post-secondary education by 2.8 percentage points, whilst there were more females enrolled in tertiary education than males by 10.6 percentage points. 

Post-secondary students

Post-secondary students enrolled in sixth forms and other post-secondary institutions totalled 10,399 during academic year 2023-2024, an increase of 2.8 per cent over the previous academic year. 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 was aged under 19 years (86.0 per cent). Foreign students enrolled in post-secondary institutions amounted to 1,808, accounting for 17.4 per cent of the total students enrolled at post-secondary level.

The vast majority of students at post-secondary level were enrolled in state-run institutions (84.2 per cent). Slightly more than half of the students were enrolled in courses or programmes of vocational study orientation (55.7 per cent).

Tertiary students

Students enrolled in tertiary level courses totalled 22,276 during academic year 2023-2024, an increase of 5.5 per cent when compared to academic year 2022-2023. An increase was also reflected in the total number of educational institutions offering tertiary education during this academic year. Female students comprised 55.3 per cent of the total students enrolled at the tertiary level.

The number of students at tertiary level who were studying on a full-time basis amounted to 16,293, or 73.1 per cent of the total. Part-time enrolments showed a decrease of 8.7 per cent over the previous academic year. The largest proportion of students in tertiary education were aged between 20 and 24 years old (39.1 per cent).

During academic year 2023-2024, foreign students enrolled at the tertiary level totalled 8,252, equivalent to 37.0 per cent of all tertiary enrolments, where 21.9 per cent were non-EU nationals and 15.1 per cent were other EU nationals. This resulted in an increase of 27.0 per cent 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) (50.2 per cent), followed by ISCED level 7 (Master’s or equivalent) at 32.5 per cent. 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 (72.7 per cent). 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 6,807 students, or 30.6 per cent of the total number of students. This was followed by the ‘Health and welfare’ field with 5,050 students, or 22.7 per cent of the total. The least popular field of study at tertiary level was ‘Generic programmes and qualifications” scoring an uptake of only 0.1 per cent.

The majority of students enrolled at ISCED level 6 and ISCED level 7 were mainly enrolled in state-run institutions (70.2 per cent and 61.9 per cent, respectively), whilst those in ISCED level 5 and ISCED level 8 were mainly enrolled in independently-run institutions (75.5 per cent and 67.1 per cent, respectively). The fields of study “Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary” and “Education” were mainly composed of Maltese students (94.7 per cent and 93.4 per cent, respectively).