The number of students who followed some type of non-university education in the A.C. of the Basque Country in the academic year 2006-07 was 372,668, 1.6% more than the previous year, according to Eustat data. Of these, 341,435 students were in general regulated education, with a positive balance of 5,389 new enrolments.

If we make a more detailed analysis by type of education, Infant Education (+4.4%) and Primary (+3.3%) with 84,851 and 103,859 pupils respectively, showed positive evolution, confirming the trend of recent years. There was also an increased number of enrolments in Adult education, 4.4% more to be precise, with a total of 26,862 inscriptions. In special education 983 pupils were registered, increasing by 1%.

Table 1.- Students enrolled in the academic year 2006-07

Source: EUSTAT.

On the other hand, a negative balance was seen in Compulsory Secondary Education (E.S.O.) which, with a total of 68,898 pupils, registered 0.8% less than in the academic year 2005-06. 30,043 young people registered in Baccalaureate with a loss of 676 students, meaning a decrease of 2.2%. and finally, a total of 25.939 students were registered in Vocational Training, 5.2% less than the previous year. The main reason for this fall is the drop in recent years in population numbers within the age brackets which follow courses at these levels.

Within regulated specialist education, there was also a fall in the number of enrolments, which came to a total of 31,233, a decrease of 5.2%. The majority of enrolments were in Languages, with 87% of the total, but decreased by 5.9%, followed by Music, which grew by 2.2% and Visual Art and Design (-9.1%). This year, for the first time in the A.C. of the Basque Country, Higher studies in Design was offered, with 53 students.

By province, 54,677 students enrolled in Álava, 196,570 in Bizkaia and a total of 121,421 students were registered in Gipuzkoa. There was a notable increase in the number of students in all three provinces, led by Gipuzkoa and Álava with a 1.5% increase, followed by Bizkaia with 0.5%.

83% of the private centres in the education network were publicly subsidised

Within general education, excluding adult education, student numbers were distributed equally between public and private centres: there was practically 50% in each. In fact, in the academic year 2006-07, 153,424 people decided to carry out their studies in public centres and 160,166 opted for doing so in private centres, although there were slight differences as regards the different levels. The levels with the greatest number of students in public institutions were: Infant (51%), Baccalaureate (53%) and Medium-grade Training (57%). However, in Primary (51%), E.S.O. (57%) and Higher-grade Vocational Training (51%) the percentages were higher in private institutions.

83% of private centres were subsidised by the Department of Education, either totally or partially. This coverage came to 98% in the case of compulsory education, made up of Primary and E.S.O. At other levels, there were also high percentages, with 97% in Baccalaureate, 93% in Vocational Training and 83% in Infant.

Student pass rates went from 98% in Primary to 80% in Baccalaureate and Vocational Training

In the academic year 2005-06 155,762 students passed one of the levels that make up non-university education. Of these, 80,596 (51.7%) were female.

If the total is distributed between general and specialist education, in both cases regulated, students passing levels came to 142,656 and 13,106, or in other words a pass rate of 89% and 41%, respectively.

Within general education, 48,822 pupils passed Primary Education (98%), 60,294 (87%) passed E.S.O., 23,338 students (80%) passed Baccalaureate, 3,789 students passed the exams of Medium-grade training (78%) and finally, 6,413 students (84%) passed Higher-grade Vocational Training.

The percentage of girls passing the course was greater than that of boys

The results for students passing levels in general education showed differing trends if analysed from the point of view of gender or according to linguistic model. From the former perspective, it can be seen that the percentage of girls’ passes was significantly higher than that of boys at all levels. To be precise, 91% of girls on average passed the level compared to 86% of boys.

Graph 1.- Student pass rates in General Education by education level and linguistic model. 2006 (%).

Note: Model B in Baccalaureate and Vocational Training is reinforced model A.

Source: EUSTAT.

From the viewpoint of the linguistic model, models B and D, both with 91%, were above the total percentage of student passes (89%). Students who passed levels in model A centres came to 82%.

If student passes are distributed according to education level, it can be seen that the only level where there was no difference between models, with a similar percentage of passes, was in Primary. In other levels, the gap widened and differences can be seen. While in the academic year 2005-06, in E.S.O. and in Baccalaureate more students passed in model D, followed by model B and in last place model A, in Medium-grade Vocational Training model B stood out, followed by A and with model D in third place. In Higher-grade Vocational Training, on the other hand, the highest number of passes was registered in model D, followed in this case by model A and model B in third place.