Part-time student

In the statistics on university and university of applied sciences education, the statistical definition of tertiary full-time and part-time studying is based on the number of completed credits. The data on numbers of completed credits derive from data collected by Statistics Finland on credits completed in the previous year. The data on credits are collected from all universities and university of applied sciences. Students having completed 20 or more credits during the academic year are classified s full-time students while students having completed fewer than 20 credits are classified as part-time students. All students having registered as absent are classified as part-time students.

First-year students do not yet have credits, so they are regarded as full-time students in the academic year concerned. Due to the nature of studies, data on the credits of students completing higher university degrees (licentiate, doctorate, medical specialist, veterinary specialist, dental specialist and students completing further university of applied sciences degrees) are not descriptive of full-timeness of studies. In computerised calculation of numbers of full-time and part-time students, all students studying for higher tertiary degrees are classified as part-time students.