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Progress of studies: documentation of statistics

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22.2.2023 valid documentation

Basic data of the statistics

Data description

Progress of studies statistics describe how new entrants to post-comprehensive school education progress in their studies until the attainment of a qualification or degree. The statistics contain data on the education started, duration of education, change of education, and what students have done if they have discontinued education.

Statistical population

These statistics describe how new entrants to post-comprehensive school education progress in their studies until the attainment of a qualification or degree. The statistics contain data on the education started, duration of education, change of education, and on what students have done if they have discontinued education.

Statistical unit

The statistical unit of the statistics on progress of studies is a person.

The data used to produce the statistics are obtained from Statistics Finland’s individual-based Register of Completed Education and Degrees, employment and student data, and population data. The data from the employment statistics have been produced using existing administrative records. The release of the statistics is compiled from the preliminary data of the employment statistics and the main type of activity variable, which describes the situation in the last working day of the statistical reference year.

Unit of measure

The units of measure of the statistics include the number of persons having started education and the proportion of persons who complete a qualification in the target time.

Base period

The statistics annually cover a new cohort of those who have started education. An index is not calculated from the statistics.

Reference period

The statistics are published 12 months after the reference period.

Reference area

The statistics describe persons studying in Finland. At regional level, the data are reported at the level of municipality or higher.

Sector coverage

Unrelated to economic activities or sectors.

Time coverage

The statistics were produced for the first time in 2003, since when the statistics have been produced annually. The annual statistics are final.

Frequency of dissemination

The statistics are published annually in February/March.

Concepts

Education

An organised activity, the aim of which is to produce competence based on teaching.

Comment:
Education can be divided into education and training leading to a qualification or degree and non-qualification studies.

Educational institution

An educational institution refers to an administrative unit with a principal or other head, which has teachers and other personnel in its service (role of employers), and which is liable to keep books and compile other documentation, in which students are registered, whose activities are regulated by a legal act or decree, which follows a national curriculum, and which is financed and controlled by a public authority. An educational institution does not refer to a school building or facility. A new educational institution is established, an educational institution is abolished or merged with another educational institution at the decision of the organiser of education (maintainer of the educational institution) or a public authority.

Statistics Finland has assigned an individualised educational institution ID to each educational institution. Educational institutions are classified according to a classification of types of educational institutions.

Educational system

The Finnish educational system is comprised of the following:

Pre-primary education is provided in Finland to 6-year-old children, usually at children's day care homes. Some 6-year-old children receive pre-primary education in comprehensive schools. Attendance of pre-primary education has been compulsory since 2015.
Comprehensive school education is general knowledge education provided for entire age cohorts. All children permanently resident in Finland must attend compulsory education. Compulsory education starts in the year of the child's seventh birthday.
Compulsory education finishes when the syllabus of comprehensives school education has been completed (9-year comprehensive school), or 10 years from the start of compulsory education. In exceptional cases compulsory education may start already at the age of six and last 11 years due to a disability or illness. A student who has received a leaving certificate from comprehensive school in the same year or in the year before it may continue to attend optional additional education (10th grade).

Post-comprehensive school education, or upper secondary general education and vocational education represent secondary level of education. Upper secondary general school education is education leading to a matriculation examination. Its scope is three years and it gives general eligibility to further education. Vocational education can be either educational institution-based or apprenticeship training. In apprenticeship training, most of the studying is comprised of learning through practical work tasks at a workplace. The qualifications are initial vocational qualifications attained in three years, which also give general eligibility to further polytechnic or university studies.

Further and specialist vocational qualifications represent further vocational education. They, as well as initial vocational qualifications can be attained in a skills examination that can be taken irrespective of the way of acquisition of professional skills, and in which skills can be proven on the basis of preparatory education for a skills examination or work experience.

Attainment of university of applied sciences degrees takes 3.5 to 4.5 years and higher university of applied sciences degrees requiring work practice 1-1.5 years. Attainment of lower university degrees takes three years while higher university degrees take two years longer. Attainers of higher level university degrees may continue their studies to licentiate and doctorate level degrees.

Level of education

Category into which programmes leading to a qualification or degree are divided on the basis of the requirement level.

Comment:
Selection to education on a particular level of education often requires completion of a lower level of education.

The level of education is measured on the basis of both the overall duration or target time of the education and the requirement level.

Levels of education: early childhood education and care and pre-primary education (duration varies), primary education (6 years), lower secondary education (3 years, in total 9 years from the beginning of comprehensive education), upper secondary education (3 years, in total 12 years from the beginning of comprehensive education), post-secondary non-tertiary education (1-2 years, in total 13-14 years from the beginning of comprehensive education), lowest tertiary education (2-3 years, in total 14-15 years from the beginning of comprehensive education), bachelor's or equivalent level (3-4 years, in total 15-16 years from the beginning of comprehensive education), master's or equivalent level (5-6 years, in total 17-18 years from the beginning of comprehensive education) and second stage of tertiary education (2-4 years, in total 19-22 years from the beginning of comprehensive education).

The level of education indicator cannot be calculated directly on the basis of the duration presented in this concept.

Main type of activity

The concept of main type of activity describes the nature of a person's economic activity. The population is divided into people in the labour force and those outside the labour force. These categories can further be divided into subgroups. The classification is based on data on a person's main type of activity during the last week of the year.

The following classification is used:

Labour force
- employed labour force
- unemployed

Persons outside the labour force
- 0-14-year-olds
- students, pupils
- pensioners
- conscripts, conscientious objectors
- others outside the labour force.

Information on the main type of activity is based on data obtained from various registers. Where the data conflict as to whether a person is in the labour force or outside it, priority is given to the former. If, within the labour force, the data conflict as to whether a person is unemployed or employed, priority is given to the former.

The group "others outside the labour force" consists of persons who are not in the labour force and do not belong to the following groups: 0-14-year-olds, students, conscripts, conscientous objectors or pensioners.

New student

In the statistics on entrants to education and progress of studies new students in upper secondary general education and university of applied sciences education refer to the students studying on 20 September who had registered into certain studies in the educational institution concerned between 1 January and 20 September. New students in vocational education refer to students who became registered in the educational institution during the calendar year studying in curriculum-based vocational education and attending education preparing for a skills examination, as well as students who have made an apprenticeship training agreement during the calendar year. Before 2013, new students in curriculum-based vocational education were those registered between 1 January and 20 September. From 2010 onwards, new students in university education refer to students having started studies leading to the current university degree at the university concerned and studying on 20 September. Previously, new students referred to students that had enrolled at the university concerned for the first time to study for a lower or upper university degree in any field of education and studying on 20 September.

The number of new students is lower than in other statistics by sector of education because it only includes students with a correct Finnish personal ID number and because a new student is only included once in the number of students by sector of education, level of education or some other variable, such as educational institute.

Programme leading to a qualification or degree; formal education

Programme leading to a qualification or degree refers to education comprising the comprehensive education syllabus, the general upper secondary education syllabus, the matriculation examination, the international diplomas, the Gymnasieexamen diploma, or education and training leading to an initial vocational qualification, a further vocational qualification, a specialist vocational qualification, a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, a licentiate, a doctoral degree, or a specialist degree in veterinary medicine.

Qualification/Degree

In statistics on the educational structure of the population, transition form school to further education and work and progress of studies attainers of qualifications or degrees refer to completers of matriculation examination, international matriculation examinations (IB, Reifeprüfung or Gymnasieexamen examination), and attainers of vocational qualifications, university of applied sciences degrees, higher university of applied sciences degrees or university degrees by the end of the statistical reference year. Attainers of qualifications or degrees also include attainers of qualifications or degrees in the armed services, frontier guard service or abroad. One qualification or degree per person is included in statistics: vocational qualification attained at the highest level of education/most recently attained.

The data are obtained from Statistics Finland's Register of Completed Education and Degrees. Data can only be entered into the Register for persons who have a Finnish personal ID number. For this reason data on the qualifications or degrees of persons without a personal ID number, e.g. many foreign persons, are missing from the Register.

Sector of education

Comprehensive education, general upper secondary education, vocational education, university of applied sciences education, university education.

Student

In the statistics on students and qualifications of educational institutions, on progress of studies, on employment of students and on transition from school to further education and work, students refer to the students attending upper secondary general, vocational, university of applied sciences education and university education leading to a qualification or degree and registered at educational institutions on 20 September and, since 2004, in respect of preparatory education for a skills examination and apprenticeship training, between 1 January and 31 December of the statistical reference year. In the statistics on students and qualifications of educational institutions, students also include comprehensive school students according to the situation on 20 September. Up to 2001, data on students in university education describe the situation on 31 December and include attainers of a degree in autumn.

Student

A learner studying in other than pre-primary or comprehensive education.

Comment
Students include persons studying in general upper secondary school, vocational upper secondary education and training, tertiary education and liberal adult education.
Adults studying in comprehensive education are also referred to as students.
In Statistics Finland's statistics the concept refers to upper secondary and tertiary level students.
In Statistics Finland's statistics students are required to be registered at an educational institution.

University education

Tertiary education provided by universities.

Comment:
The objective of the education is a bachelor’s or master’s degree or a scientific postgraduate degree, which are licentiate's and doctoral degrees.
Education not leading to a qualification or degree can also be completed.

Vocational education and training

Education and training completed after the comprehensive education syllabus, aimed at producing vocational competence.

Comment:
Initial, further and specialist vocational qualifications can be obtained in vocational education and training.
In addition to completing a qualification, parts of a qualification can also be completed in vocational education and training.

Classifications

Px code list of national field of education (2016)

Px code list of sex

Accuracy, reliability and timeliness

Overall accuracy

The statistics describe persons who have a correct Finnish personal identity code. All incorrect personal identity codes are excluded from the review, which causes some under-coverage regarding the completion of a qualification or degree among students with a foreign background.

Timeliness

The data are published 15 months after the reference period.

Punctuality

The data are delivered in a timely manner. Any delays are reported on a case-by-case basis.

Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The data cover the whole of Finland.

Comparability - over time

No time series data are published in the statistics. The review is always conducted on the starting cohort.

Coherence - cross domain

A corresponding topic is also examined in the statistics on discontinuation of education, although the perspective, indicators produced and reporting differ from the statistics on progress of education.

Coherence - internal

The data are internally coherent. Exceptions such as educational system reforms are reported separately.

Source data and data collections

Source data

The statistics are based on administrative data.

Data collection

The statistics are based on administrative data.

Frequency of data collection

The data are collected annually.

Methods

Data compilation

The statistics on progress of studies are based on administrative data, for the production of which no further statistical measures are needed. Old data can be used to correct incorrect personal identity codes.

Data validation

The statistics are based on already published and validated student and qualification data. The statistics on progress of studies describe changes that have occurred and the internal logic of the data.

Principles and outlines

Contact organisation

Statistics Finland

Contact organisation unit

Social Statistics

Legal acts and other agreements

The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.

Further information: Statistical legislation

Confidentiality - policy

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed in accordance with the requirements of the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Violation of data protection is punishable.

Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

Confidentiality - data treatment

The key guideline in data protection activities is to avoid publishing statistical data in a form from which an individual person can be identified. Data on students and qualifications belonging to the organisers of education or educational institutions are otherwise in the public domain, because the education or training they organise is funded or supervised by a public authority (Section 12 of the Statistics Act).

The tables in the database are more standardised and more specific than the tables used in the statistical release. Background variables are also typically more detailed than those used in the tables of the statistical release.

The tables used in the statistical release are produced using SAS. To ensure data protection, the classification was already changed to less detailed at the table design stage; the database tables are not published using the most detailed possible classification variables for data protection reasons. For example, education data are made less detailed to the level and sub-level of education and the place of residence of the person who completed a qualification to the regional level, when the table contains data describing main type of activity.

Release policy

Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data are public after they have been updated in the web service.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland

Data sharing

The data are distributed to the Education Administration as data according to an information service agreement.

Accessibility and clarity

Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.

In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.

Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.

Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.

Data revision - policy

Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.

The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.

Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.

Quality assessment

The quality of the data regarding those who have started education are assessed in relation to the student data. The data are also compared with the data on those who have discontinued education because the data describe the same phenomenon from different angles.

Quality assurance

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

User access

Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics

Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data.