Since the beginning of the 2000s the distribution of the sexes among new postgraduate students has been even but last year the percentage of women decreased somewhat. Foreign postgraduate students are on the increase and now comprise nearly one third of all beginners. These are the latest findings of new statistics from Swedish National Agency for Higher Education and Statistics Sweden.
Over the last twenty years the percentage of women beginning postgraduate studies has increased markedly, and since the start of the 2000s women have comprised half of all new postgraduate students. Last year however, this percentage dropped to 46 percent of a total of 2 800 beginners.
Increasing numbers of foreign postgraduate students
The number of foreign postgraduate students has increased steadily over the last ten years and now comprises nearly one third of all new postgraduates. Most of the students are studying engineering, medicine, natural sciences or social sciences. Within the area of engineering, the percentage of foreign postgraduate students of all beginners is largest; over 40 percent are from other countries.
Most new postgraduate students at Karolinska Institutet
Among the 21 universities and institutes of higher education with postgraduate education, most beginners study at Karolinska Institutet (380 persons). Lund University, the Royal Institute of Technology and Uppsala University follow. Together these four universities have nearly half of all new postgraduate students.
The distribution of the sexes among new students varies considerably. The proportion of women is highest at Karolinska Institutet (63 percent). Blekinge Institute of Technology and the Royal Institute of Technology had the highest proportion of men, or 93 and 75 percent respectively.
More receive doctoral degrees in shorter period of time
The number of doctoral degrees has increased over the last ten years, and this increase also continued last year. Another long-term trend is that more and more receive their degrees in a shorter period of time. When comparing first time students from 1980 with those of 2002, the share receiving doctoral degrees within five years has more than doubled from 18 to 43 percent.