Transition upper secondary school – post-secondary education, upper secondary school graduates 2013/14-2018/19
More women than men continue to study
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2021-05-24 9.30
For the second year in a row, more women than men continued to study in post-secondary education after a higher education preparatory upper-secondary programme.
Post-secondary education includes higher education and higher vocational education, as well as special courses at folk high schools and arts and culture courses. The most recent figures include studies started up to and including spring semester 2020.
Among those who graduated from upper secondary school in 2018/19, 26 percent started post-secondary studies within one year, which is the same proportion as in the previous academic year. Higher education is by far the most common form of post-secondary education, in which 23 percent enrolled within a year. In addition, 2 percent began studies at folk high school, 1 percent are enrolled in higher vocational education and 0.3 percent are enrolled in arts and culture courses.
Among women who graduated from a higher education preparatory upper-secondary programme in academic year 2018/19, 36 percent had continued to study within one year, which is slightly more than in the previous academic year. The proportion of men who continued to study remained unchanged, and thus this is the second year in a row in which somewhat more women than men from a higher education preparatory upper-secondary programme continued to study. The proportion of women who continued to study after a vocational programme has been higher than the corresponding proportion of men since the beginning of the measurement period. The proportions for both women and men were unchanged compared with the previous academic year.
Transition within 5 years
Among those who graduated from upper secondary school in 2014/15, 60 percent started in a post-secondary education within five years. However, there is a major difference between those who graduated from higher education preparatory upper-secondary programmes and from vocational programmes. Among graduates from higher education preparatory upper-secondary programmes, 79 percent continued to study within five years. The corresponding figure for vocational programmes is 21 percent. The proportion of women who graduated from a vocational programme and continued to study within five years is twice as high as the corresponding proportion among men.
Definitions and explanations
Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of students
This publication refers to further studies up to and including academic year 2019/20. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a higher number of students in post-secondary education, mainly as from summer 2020. This is not yet visible in the rate of transition from upper secondary school, since few programmes commence in the later part of the spring semester. In November 2021, new statistics on transition rates to higher education in 2020/21 will be published. In that presentation, we expect to see an increase in the rate of transition to higher education.
Number of upper secondary school graduates in total, by upper secondary school programme, sex, and graduation year
| Program | Year of graduation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | 2014/15 | 2018/19 | |
| All programs | 75 619 | 77 041 | |
| Women | 38 723 | 38 438 | |
| Men | 36 896 | 38 603 | |
| Higher education preparatory programs | 50 414 | 53 328 | |
| Women | 28 299 | 28 791 | |
| Men | 22 115 | 24 537 | |
| Vocational programs | 25 205 | 23 713 | |
| Women | 10 424 | 9 647 | |
| Men | 14 781 |
14 066 |
|
The following forms of post-secondary education are included in this statistic:
- Higher education. More statistics are available on www.scb.se/UF0205. Read more about higher education on www.uka.se.
- Higher vocational education. Further statistics are available on www.scb.se/UF0701. Read more about higher vocational education on www.myh.se.
- Folk high school special course. More statistics are available on www.scb.se/UF0601. Read more about this form of education on www.folkbildningsradet.se.
- Arts and cultural programmes, and certain other programmes. Further statistics are available on www.scb.se/UF0702. Read more about this form of education on www.myh.se.
In the Statistical Database, you can find further statistics on:
• transition rates to post-secondary education in total,
• transition rates to higher education,
• transition rates to higher vocational education,
• transition rates to folk high schools, and
• transition rates to arts and culture courses.
The statistics are presented by upper-secondary school programme, and can be broken down by county and municipality. There are also tables on the orientations that the graduates study in each post-secondary form of education.
Next publishing will be
Statistics on transition to higher education up to and including academic year 2020/21 will be published in November 2021.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.