Female graduates continue to outnumber their male counterparts

Female graduates outnumbered males in all levels of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), with the exception of ISCED level 5, data released by the National Statistics Office said.

The data also shows that the business, administration and law field of study garnered 26.7% of all graduates for the academic year 2014/2015.

In total, 3,953 students graduated from tertiary level education in this year. Of these, 1,054 came from the business, administration and law field. This was followed by arts and humanities and health and welfare, which saw both saw a 513 students (13%) graduating.

Foreign graduates totalled to 198, equivalent to 5% of total graduates with the majority of foreign graduates being non-EU nationals. Social sciences, journalism and information was the most popular field of study among foreign graduates with 26.3% of all foreigners following a course in this field. This was followed by business, administration and law, which garnered 23.7% of all foreigners.

During academic year 2014/2015, 81.5% of all graduates were enrolled on a full-time basis. 2,067 graduates achieved a first degree qualification, with more than half of full-time graduates obtaining a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent (ISCED level 6 qualification). Part-time graduates accounted for 18.5% of total graduates. Of these, 55.3% achieved a Master’s degree or an equivalent qualification (ISCED level 7 qualification).

A slight increase was recorded in the average age of graduates in all education levels when compared to the previous academic year. Part-time graduates in all levels of education had an overall higher average age when compared to their full-time counterparts during 2014/2015.