Students in Post-secondary and Tertiary Education: 2023-2024
- A total of 32,675 students were enrolled at post-secondary and tertiary levels of education.
- The majority of students enrolled at post-secondary and tertiary levels were females (53.2 per cent).
- Foreign students accounted for 30.8 per cent of the total students enrolled at post-secondary and tertiary levels.
- Slightly more than half of the students in post-secondary levels were enrolled in courses or programmes of vocational study orientation (55.7 per cent).
- The largest share of tertiary enrolments was composed of students aged between 20 and 24 years (39.1 per cent).
Students in Post-secondary and Tertiary Education: 2023-2024
Students in Post-secondary and Tertiary Education: 2023-2024
This news release includes students enrolled in formal education with a minimum duration of one semester of full-time study (or the equivalent in part-time) and that are delivered from Malta. Students are included irrespective of whether they are residing in Malta or abroad. The population of educational institutions considered include institutions delivering formal education programmes from Malta, whether online or face-to-face, at post-secondary and tertiary level.
The number of students enrolled in post-secondary levels stood at 10,399, whilst 22,276 students were enrolled in tertiary education. Males outnumbered females in post-secondary education by 2.8 percentage points, whilst there were more females enrolled in tertiary education than males by 10.6 percentage points (Table 1).
Post-secondary students
Post-secondary students enrolled in sixth forms and other post-secondary institutions totalled 10,399 during academic year 2023-2024, an increase of 2.8 per cent over the previous academic year (Table 1). This reference year saw more males than females enrolled at post-secondary level, as was seen in the previous academic year (Chart 1).
Chart 1. Post-secondary level students by academic year and sex
Note: Post-secondary refers to ISCED 2-4; refer to methodological note 5.
The largest proportion of post-secondary students were aged under 19 years (86.0 per cent) (Table 2). Foreign students enrolled in post-secondary institutions amounted to 1,808, accounting for 17.4 per cent of the total students enrolled at post-secondary level (Tables 3 and 4).
The vast majority of students at post-secondary level were enrolled in state-run institutions (84.2 per cent). Slightly more than half of the students were enrolled in courses or programmes of vocational study orientation (55.7 per cent) (Table 5).
Tertiary students
Students enrolled in tertiary level courses totalled 22,276 during academic year 2023-2024, an increase of 5.5 per cent when compared to academic year 2022-2023 (Table 6). An increase was also reflected in the total number of educational institutions offering tertiary education during this academic year (refer to methodological note 7). Female students comprised 55.3 per cent of the total students enrolled at the tertiary level (Chart 2).
Chart 2. Percentage distribution of profile characteristics of students at tertiary level
Notes:
1. Tertiary refers to ISCED 5-8; refer to methodological note 6.
2. For ISCED information refer to methodological notes 9 and 12.
The number of students at tertiary level who were studying on a full-time basis amounted to 16,293, or 73.1 per cent of the total. Part-time enrolments showed a decrease of 8.7 per cent over the previous academic year (Table 6). The largest proportion of students in tertiary education were aged between 20 and 24 years old (39.1 per cent) (Table 7).
During academic year 2023-2024, foreign students enrolled at the tertiary level totalled 8,252, equivalent to 37.0 per cent of all tertiary enrolments, where 21.9 per cent were non-EU nationals and 15.1 per cent were other EU nationals (Chart 2). This resulted in an increase of 27.0 per cent of foreign students over the previous academic year (Table 8).
The largest proportion of tertiary students were engaged in courses at ISCED level 6 (Bachelor’s or equivalent) (50.2 per cent), followed by ISCED level 7 (Master’s or equivalent) at 32.5 per cent. Maltese students made up the majority of enrolments in ISCED levels 5 (Short-cycle tertiary education), 6 (Bachelor’s or equivalent) and 7 (Master’s or equivalent), whilst in ISCED level 8 (Doctoral or equivalent), the majority of students were foreign nationals (72.7 per cent) (Table 9). Female students outnumbered their male counterparts at almost all tertiary ISCED levels, except in ISCED level 8 (Doctoral or equivalent) (Chart 3).
Chart 3. Percentage distribution of tertiary level students by ISCED level and sex
Notes:
1. Tertiary refers to ISCED 5-8; refer to methodological note 6.
2. For ISCED information refer to methodological notes 9 and 12.
At tertiary level, the most popular field of study was ’Business, administration and law’ with 6,807 students, or 30.6 per cent of the total number of students. This was followed by the ‘Health and welfare’ field with 5,050 students, or 22.7 per cent of the total. The least popular field of study at tertiary level was ‘Generic programmes and qualifications” scoring an uptake of only 0.1 per cent (Table 10).
The majority of students enrolled at ISCED level 6 and ISCED level 7 were mainly enrolled in state-run institutions (70.2 per cent and 61.9 per cent, respectively), whilst those in ISCED level 5 and ISCED level 8 were mainly enrolled in independently-run institutions (75.5 per cent and 67.1 per cent, respectively) (Table 11). The fields of study “Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary” and “Education” were mainly composed of Maltese students (94.7 per cent and 93.4 per cent, respectively) (Table 12 and Chart 4).
Chart 4. Percentage distribution of tertiary level students by field of study and citizenship
Notes:
1.Tertiary refers to ISCED 5-8; refer to methodological note 6.
2. For Fields of Study information refer to methodological notes 9 and 12.
3. Percentages may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding.
Tables
Methodological Notes
1. Education statistics presented in this news release are processed by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on an annual basis in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 and (EU) 912/2013. These regulations establish the basis of information to be collected from educational institutions at all levels of education and all economic sectors. By adhering to these regulations, all education statistics collected and processed by the NSO are comparable to other European countries following the same regulatory standards.
2. Figures presented in this news release are based on data available as at the cut-off date of 31st July 2025. Statistics published in this release may be subject to revisions.
3. This news release includes students enrolled in formal education with a minimum duration of one semester of full-time study (or the equivalent in part-time) and that are delivered from Malta. Students are included irrespective of whether they are residing in Malta or abroad.
4. Data collection covers all students enrolled in the respective institutions as at 31st March of the reference academic year.
5. For the purpose of this news release, post-secondary level refers to students enrolled in Sixth Forms, the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS), University of Malta (UM), and other public and private institutions offering courses at ISCED levels 2 to 4 (also refer to note 9).
6. For the purpose of this news release, tertiary level refers to students enrolled at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS), University of Malta (UM), and other public and private institutions offering courses at ISCED levels 5 to 8 (also refer to note 9).
7. The population of educational institutions considered for the purpose of this news release include institutions delivering formal education programmes from Malta at post-secondary and tertiary level:
| Academic Year | |||
| 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | |
| Total number of institutions offering courses at post-secondary and tertiary education | 59 | 66 | 73 |
| of which: | |||
| Offering courses at post-secondary education (ISCED 2-4) | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Offering courses at tertiary education (ISCED 5-8) | 43 | 47 | 52 |
Notes:
1.The population of educational institutions considered for the purpose of this news release include institutions delivering formal education programmes from Malta at post-secondary and tertiary level:
2. Institutions offering courses at both post-secondary and tertiary are counted in each category. Therefore, the total refers to the unique number of institutions and does not tally with the summation of the sub-categories.
8. Education Statistics data is provided by NSO to Eurostat on an annual basis in a dedicated questionnaire as established by Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 and (EU) 912/2013.
9. Definitions:
● Age is calculated as at 1st January of the reference academic year. For example, for academic year 2022-2023, age is calculated as at 1st January 2024.
● Education means organised and sustained communication designed to bring about learning (vide Regulation (EC) No. 452/2008).
● Fields of study (ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013): The ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 classifies educational programmes and related qualifications by fields of study. A field is the broad domain, branch or area of content covered by an education programme or qualification. For more information refer to the International Standard Classification of Education – Fields of education and training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013).
● Formal education is an institutionalised, intentional and planned type of education which is provided by public organisations and recognised private bodies. It consists primarily of initial education designed for children and young people before their first entry to the labour market. It also includes other types of education such as vocational, special needs and adult education provided they are recognised as part of the formal education system by the relevant national education authorities.
● General education is defined as educational programmes that are designed to develop learners’ general knowledge, skills and competencies, as well as literacy and numeracy skills, often to prepare participants for more advanced education programmes at the same or a higher ISCED level and to lay the foundation for lifelong learning. These programmes are typically school-based or college-based. General education includes education programmes that are designed to prepare participants for entry into vocational education but do not prepare for employment in a particular occupation, trade or class of occupations or trades, nor lead directly to a labour market-relevant qualification.
● International Standard Classification of Education – ISCED 2011 is a framework for assembling, compiling, and analysing cross-nationally comparable statistics on education. ISCED belongs to the United Nations International Family of Economic and Social Classifications and is the reference classification for organising education programmes and related qualifications by levels and fields of education. ISCED is designed to serve as a framework to classify educational activities as defined in programmes and the resulting qualifications into internationally agreed categories. For more information refer to the ISCED 2011 manual.
ISCED levels are based on ISCED 2011 classification:
ISCED 0 – Early childhood and pre-primary education
ISCED 1 – Primary education
ISCED 2 – Lower secondary education
ISCED 3 – Upper secondary education
ISCED 4 – Post-secondary non-tertiary education
ISCED 5 – Short-cycle tertiary education
ISCED 6 – Bachelor’s or equivalent level
ISCED 7 – Master’s or equivalent level
ISCED 8 – Doctoral or equivalent level
● Locality of residence: The locality of residence is the locality where students are residing during the academic year, as registered by the institution. Students registering a foreign address of residence are reported as ‘foreign residence’, whilst students having missing information relating to the locality of residence are reported as students with an unspecified locality.
● Vocational education is defined as educational programmes that are designed for learners to acquire the knowledge, skills and competencies specific to a particular occupation, trade, or class of occupations or trades. Such programmes may have work-based components (e.g. apprenticeships, dual-system education programmes). Successful completion of such programmes leads to labour market-relevant, vocational qualifications acknowledged as occupationally oriented by the relevant national authorities and/or the labour market.
10. Totals/percentages may not add up due to rounding.
11. Figures related to district of residence in academic year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 (Table 6) have been revised.
12. More information relating to this release may be accessed at:
Sources and Methods
ISCED 2011 Classification
ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013
LAU Classification
13. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
14. European statistics related to students are available here.
15. For further assistance send your request through our online request form.
16. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
