Higher Vocational Education 2018:
More applicants to higher vocational education in 2018
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2019-03-27 9.30
The number of qualified applicants to higher vocational education programmes starting in 2018 increased compared with previous years. At the same time, there were more programmes available in 2018. This means that the number of qualified applicants per study place fell slightly to 1.8 qualified applicants per study place.
In total, education providers received 112 700 applications for 24 100 study places in programmes starting in 2018. There were 56 700 persons who had applied for some higher vocational education programme, and among these, 43 600 qualified for at least one of the programmes they had applied to. There were on average 2.4 applicants per place and 1.8 qualified applicants per place. At programme start, there were 22 400 admitted students who commenced their studies.
More women than men applied to higher vocational education programmes, and a marginally larger share of women were qualified to at least one programme. Gender differences were evened out slightly in the admissions process. Among admitted students who commenced studying at start, just over 50 percent were women and just under 50 percent were men. The share of women among qualified applicants has increased somewhat over time, as well as the share of women among admitted students who had commenced their studies.
Higher vocational education is increasing in terms of the number of study places. The number of applicants and the number of qualified applicants is also increasing. However, the number of qualified applicants has not increased at the same rate as the number of study places, which means the number of qualified applicants per place is decreasing slightly over time.
Number of qualified applicants per place varies in different fields of education. In the major fields of education in 2018, those with more than 1000 places, there were four fields with less than two qualified applicants per place on average: Technology and processing, Architecture and construction, ICTs and Hotel, restaurants and tourism. Two fields of education had more than two qualified applicants per place on average: Health and medical care, and social services and Economics, administration and sales. This is the same pattern as in previous years.
The number of qualified applicants per place also varies among counties where the programmes are arranged. In 2018, the highest number of qualified applicants per place was in Gävleborg County, and the lowest number of qualified applicants per place was in Västra Götaland County. The popularity in applications per county may have been affected by the fact that the range of programmes varies between counties and over time in general. However, Västra Götaland County has had fewer than two qualified applicants per place for several years.
Definitions and explanations
Official statistics on higher vocational education
Since 2018, Statistics Sweden has been responsible for official statistics on higher vocational education. Statistics on applicants to higher vocational education are based on data that Statistics Sweden has collected from education providers since 2014. In the period 2014-2017, Statistics Sweden collected the survey data on behalf of the National Agency for Higher Vocational Education.
Applicants to programme sessions starting during a year
The statistics refer to programme sessions that started each year respectively. For example, applicants in 2015 refers to all those who applied to study sessions that began in 2015.
No statistics on the number of applicants in 2014
Due to a change in the definition, the number of applicants in 2014 is not comparable with later statistics and is therefore not reported.
Who counts as an applicant?
An applicant is defined by the following criteria:
- The applicant must have submitted an application that at the very least contains information about the applicant's name and personal identity number (or name and date of birth).
- The applicant has submitted their application within the application period (within the ordinary or extended application period).
Statistics are net presented
Net statistics of the number of applicants and the number of qualified applicants are presented. This means that once the number of applicants is reported, grouped by various education data, such as field of education or county, the number of unique applicants per study domain is counted. Persons who have applied to several study programmes in different study domains are counted once in each domain.
Field of education
Field of education MYH refers to the classification of programmes in the fields of education used by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education (MYH). The fields of education are based on the SUN 2000 standard.
Next publishing will be
Statistics on applicants in 2018 based on their educational background will be published on 15 May 2019. Statistics on applicants to study sessions starting in 2019 will be published in March 2020.
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.