The interest in higher education has been approximately the same since academic year 2003/04. As in previous years, in academic year 2017/18 a higher proportion of women had plans to start university studies. However, there are also differences in the upper secondary programmes that the pupils choose to study, as more women than men study higher education preparatory programmes. Among pupils in higher education preparatory programmes, the differences between the sexes in the interest in higher education are no longer clear.

The most common reasons for pupils to want to undertake further studies were related to a future occupation.

University’s reputation more important to pupils whose parents have post-secondary education

Lund University, Uppsala University, the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University were the most popular universities among upper secondary school graduates, which has been the case in the survey for the past ten years.

The main reasons that pupils chose a particular university were the quality of education, the school has a good reputation and is close to home.

About 45 percent of pupils with at least one parent with post-secondary education stated that one reason for the choice of university was that the university has a good reputation compared with 30 percent among those with no parent with post-secondary education.

Women chose social sciences and men chose technology

Social sciences and health care were popular educational orientations among women. Men preferred technology and economics. Computing was also more popular among men, while law was more popular among women. A larger proportion of foreign born women than Swedish born women wanted to study to be a doctor, veterinarian, or dentist, or to study some other form of health care.

The proportion of those who planned to study for five years or more was higher among pupils whose both parents have post-secondary education, as well as among pupils in higher education preparatory programmes.

Most common among men in vocational programmes to want to work instead

Among upper secondary school pupils in year 3, about 20 percent of the women and 30 percent of the men had no plans to start university studies in the next three years. The most common reasons were wanting to work instead, being tired of studying and wanting to do other things, such as travel, take it easy or pursue their interests.

Wanting to do other things was more common among women than among men. A larger proportion of Swedish born pupils than foreign born pupils did not plan to start university studies because they were tired of studying.

Among pupils in higher education preparatory programmes, about half of both women and men wanted to work instead. Among pupils in vocational programmes, about 90 percent of the men and half of the women wanted to work instead.

Parents a more important source of information for pupils with plans to start university studies

The most important sources of information for university studies were oral information from study and career counsellors or teachers, information from parents or relatives, or university websites.

About 25 percent of pupils with plans to start university studies had received a lot of information from parents or relatives compared with about 10 percent among those without such plans or those who did not know whether or not they were going to study further.

A more detailed report of this survey is published in the theme report Higher education plans of upper secondary school pupils. Academic year 2017/18.