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Published: 14 March 2018

Foreign background especially affected completion of upper secondary level education

According to Statistics Finland's Education Statistics, students of Finnish background pass upper secondary general education and vocational education more quickly than those of foreign background. Eighty-one per cent of students of Finnish background completed upper secondary general education in 3.5 years, while the pass rate for students of foreign background was 66 per cent. Vocational education was completed in 3.5 years by 69 per cent of students of Finnish background and by 60 per cent of students of foreign background.

Pass rates by sector of education and origin in 2016

The pass rate tells how many per cent of those that started education have completed a qualification within the examined study time. The examined time is 3.5 years for upper secondary general and vocational education, 4.5 years for university of applied sciences education and 5.5 years for university education.
Statistics Finland's origin classification has been used to determine origin.

Students of Finnish background pass upper secondary general education clearly faster than students of foreign background

Progress of new upper secondary school students (aimed at young people) studies by end 2016

Year of starting	New upper secondary school students, total	Pass rate	New male students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New female students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New male students, Foreign background	Pass rate	New female students, Foreign background	Pass rate
		%		%		%		%		%
2011	32 897	89,9	13 676	89,4	18 057	91,2	518	71,8	646	81,3
2012	32 183	89,4	13 251	88,7	17 762	91,1	507	68,2	663	75,7
2013	31 884	80,6	12 810	80,7	17 768	81,7	581	60,4	725	69,8

According to the data for 2016, upper secondary general education is rarely completed in over 4.5 years: Eighty-one per cent of new students in upper secondary general schools completed the upper secondary general school syllabus in at most 3.5 and 89 per cent in at most 4.5 years. Men studying in upper secondary general school passed their qualifications slightly more slowly than women studying there did.

Among new male students of Finnish background in upper secondary general school, 81 per cent completed their studies in at most 3.5 years, while the corresponding figure for women was 82 per cent. The difference between sexes in passing education was larger for students of foreign background than among students of Finnish background: 60 per cent of male students completed their studies in at most 3.5 years, and 70 per cent of female students. The pass rate for upper secondary general education in 4.5 years improved for students of both Finnish and foreign background: 68 per cent of men of foreign background and 76 per cent of women of foreign background. Eighty-nine per cent of men and 91 per cent of women of Finnish background had completed their studies in 4.5 years.

Women of Finnish background completed upper secondary general education in 3.5 years more often than women of foreign background, the difference between the pass rates was 12 percentage points. In 4.5 years, the difference between the pass rates increased to 15 percentage points. The difference narrowed when 5.5 years had passed from starting the studies, when 91 per cent of women of Finnish background and 81 per cent of women of foreign background had completed their studies. Men of Finnish background completed their studies in 3.5 years more often than men of foreign background, the difference between the pass rates was 20 per cent. The difference between pass rates narrowed after 5.5 years of studies to 18 percentage points.

Low pass rate in vocational education for men of foreign background

Progress of new students studies in vocational education (aimed at young people) by end 2016

Year of starting	New students in vocational education, total	Pass rate	New male students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New female students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New male students, Foreign background	Pass rate	New female students, Foreign background	Pass rate
		%		%		%		%		%
2011	50 499	77,1	24 592	77,0	23 621	77,7	1 180	68,4	1 106	76,3
2012	49 759	74,6	24 549	74,5	22 640	75,5	1 324	63,6	1 246	72,0
2013	48 679	68,3	23 866	68,5	22 103	69,1	1 464	55,5	1 246	66,1

Sixty-eight per cent of students attending vocational education aimed at young people completed a qualification in at most 3.5 years and 75 per cent in at most 4.5 years. Women completed a qualification slightly faster than men. The difference between the pass rates of women and men of Finnish background was, however, small, under one percentage point.

Men and women of Finnish background passed vocational education nearly as often measured by how long had passed since the beginning of the studies. The difference between sexes in pass rates among students of foreign background were higher. Fifty-six per cent of men and 66 per cent of women of foreign background had completed a qualification in at most 3.5 years. In all, 64 per cent of men of foreign background completed a qualification in 4.5 years and 72 per cent of women, which means that the difference between the pass rates was eight percentage points.

Men of Finnish background completed a vocational qualification more often than men of foreign background in 3.5 years, the difference between the pass rates was 13 percentage points. Among those who pass the education in 4.5 years, the difference in the pass rates decreased to 11 percentage points and further to nine percentage points when 5.5 years had passed since the start of the studies. For women, the differences in pass rates were not as big as for men. Of women of foreign background, 66 per cent completed a qualification in 3.5 years while the corresponding share for women of Finnish background was 69 per cent. The difference between pass rates decreased to one percentage point after 5.5 years from starting studying.

Persons of foreign background have a better pass rate in university of applied sciences education than persons of Finnish background

Progress of new university of applied sciences students studies by end 2016, youth education

Year of starting	New university of applied sciences students, total	Pass rate	New male students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New female students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New male students, Foreign background	Pass rate	New female students, Foreign background	Pass rate
		%		%		%		%		%
2009	28 400	67,7	12 197	58,5	14 556	74,9	930	65,8	717	78,5
2010	29 030	65,2	12 578	55,1	14 612	73,5	980	61,6	860	77,6
2011	28 646	60,6	12 288	48,0	14 178	70,9	1 159	57,9	1 021	72,1
2012	28 093	49,6	11 462	32,8	14 260	62,5	1 257	44,6	1 114	63,1
2013	26 894	27,2	11 378	12,9	13 404	38,8	1 063	25,0	1 049	36,6

Fifty per cent of those who started studying for a university of applied sciences degree completed their studies in 4.5 years. Sixty-eight per cent of students completed their studies in at most 7.5 years. In all, 53 per cent of students of foreign background and 49 per cent of those of Finnish background completed a qualification in 4.5 years. The difference between the groups in the pass rates remained the same after 7.5 years had passed since the start of studies.

The difference between sexes in pass rates was large both for students of foreign and Finnish background. Among women of Finnish background, 63 per cent completed a qualification in 4.5 years while the corresponding figure for men was 33 per cent. The difference between the sexes started to narrow when 6.5 years had passed since starting studies, when the difference was 18 percentage points. Among women of foreign background, 63 per cent completed a qualification in 4.5 years, while the corresponding figure for men was 45 per cent. In total, 62 per cent of men and 78 per cent of women of foreign background completed a qualification in 6.5 years.

Men of foreign background completed a qualification more often than men of Finnish background in 4.5 years, the difference between the pass rates was 12 percentage points. Among those who pass the education in 5.5 years, the difference in the pass rate decreased to 10 percentage points and further to seven percentage points after 6.5 years from the start of the studies. For women, the differences in pass rates were not as big as for men. Among women of Finnish and foreign background, 63 per cent completed a qualification in 4.5 years. The difference narrowed to four percentage points when 6.5 years had passed from starting the studies, when 78 per cent of women of foreign background and 74 per cent of women of Finnish background had completed a qualification.

One-half of students with foreign background attained a university degree in 3.5 years

Progress of new university students studies by end 2016, lower or higher university degrees

Year of starting	New university students, total	Pass rate	New male students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New female students, Finnish background	Pass rate	New male students, Foreign background	Pass rate	New female students, Foreign background	Pass rate
		%		%		%		%		%
2009	19 940	70,7	7 977	63,0	10 501	77,4	843	59,9	619	70,3
2010	19 766	66,0	7 909	58,8	10 324	72,4	871	57,4	662	64,4
2011	19 827	62,1	7 812	54,1	10 225	68,2	974	58,6	816	65,8
2012	22 815	51,8	8 847	41,4	12 015	59,0	1 097	50,4	856	59,8
2013	23 162	32,0	9 142	21,4	12 090	36,9	1 047	49,4	883	53,5

The pass rate of university education grows, the longer time has passed from the start of education. The older the cohort of new students is examined, the higher the pass rate became. Sixty-two per cent of students completed a lower or higher university degree in 5.5 years and among those having studied for 7.5 years, 71 per cent had passed a university degree. Women of Finnish background attain a degree clearly faster than men. Of women, 68 per cent completed their degrees in 5.5 years, while 54 per cent of men attained a degree. Seventy-seven per cent of women and 63 per cent of men of Finnish background had competed a degree after 7.5 years of studying.

Students of foreign background attained a degree clearly faster than students of Finnish background. The degree was attained in 5.5 years by 66 per cent of women and 59 per cent of men. A majority of students of foreign background started directly in master’s studies.

The database tables of these statistics contain information on the differences between the pass rates for sectors of education, different fields of education and different origin group (see Tables in databases ). The database tables also include information on those students who did not attain their qualification in the target time.

In these statistics, the number of completers of education relative to starters of education has increased particularly for tertiary level education. Other statistics also indicate that studying was more interesting than before as discontinuation of education decreased. Employment among students increased slightly compared to the year before. ( Discontinuation of education , Employment of students ).

Source: Education Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Mika Witting 029 551 3530, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (264.6 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

• Database tables and their variables
• Archived tables

Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Progress of new upper secondary school students (aimed at young people) studies by end 2016 (14.3.2018)
• Appendix table 2. Progress of new students studies in vocational education (aimed at young people) by end 2016 (14.3.2018)
• Appendix table 3. Progress of new university of applied sciences students studies by end 2016, youth education (14.3.2018)
• Appendix table 4. Progress of new university students studies by end 2016, lower or higher university degrees (14.3.2018)

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Updated 14.3.2018