Press Release 06.07.11
The number of enrolments increased by 5% due to doctorates
Half of students studied subjects relating to law and social sciences
In the 2010-11 academic year, 65,607 young people enrolled in universities in the Basque Country, according to data provided by Eustat. With regards to the previous year, this figure was an increase of 5%, breaking the downward trend that had been prevalent during the last fifteen years. The factor that influenced this behaviour was the increase in enrolments for postgraduate studies, with 2082 more registered individuals than the previous academic year.
In terms of distribution by province, 55% studied at university in Bizkaia, 30% in Gipuzkoa and, lastly, the least number of enrolments was registered in Araba/Álava, 15%.
With regards to ownership, eight out of every ten students chose a public university for their higher education course. This proportion was similar in all types of studies, except in official masters, where the proportion of enrolments in public centres was less, dropping to 65%.
In this academic year the number of students studying degrees increased by 73%, a total of 18,797 enrolments, with the new university teaching structure consolidating itself in all universities in the Basque Country.
Male students preferred to enrol on more technical courses (70%), compared to female students who inclined more towards degrees or diplomas (66%)
The distribution by gender in university classrooms reflected the difference in favour of women in terms of access to university, standing at 8 percentage points: 54% were women, and 46% were men.
This greater presence of women was recorded in all types of studies: Official Masters (57%), Undergraduate courses (54%) and Higher Degrees (53%). In Doctorate courses there was a balance regarding gender distribution.
The difference was noteworthy for the specialisation of the studies; for the most technical subjects there were a total of 9044 men compared with 3810 women; in contrast, in degrees and diplomas a total of 17,991 women were registered, against 9490 men.
On the other hand, 40,335 students completed first and second-cycle studies, 18,797 degrees, 3344 Official Masters and 3131 Doctorates.
Regarding First and Second Cycle studies the most in-demand were: Teacher Training (3839), Business Management and Administration (3513), Industrial Technical Engineering (3443), Diploma in Business Studies (2329), Industrial Engineering (2213), Law (1680), Psychology (1529) and Medicine (1282), representing half the number of enrolments.
With regards to degrees the ranking was as follows: Psychology (1517), Business Management and Administration (1264), Primary Education (1235), Mechanical Engineering (1059), Law (1044), Infant Education (688), Social Education (588) and Business Management (514), representing 42% of the total.
Both in Degree and undergraduate courses half of the students opted to specialise in Sociology and Law
University students in the Basque Country specialised in studies relating to Sociology, Law and Technical subjects, both in Degree studies (70%) and Undergraduate studies (80%), with the first groups accounting for half of enrollments and the second accounting for just under.
Following on from the aforementioned, mention should be made of those studies that belong to the sphere of Humanities and those relating to Health.
And, lastly, the lack of orientation amongst university students towards studies in the sphere of Sciences and Experimental specialist subjects should be highlighted, such as: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and so on.
5744 lecturers gave classes in universities in the Basque Country
7952 were employed in the universities of the Basque Country throughout the 2010-11 academic year, representing 1.2% of the total personnel employed in the services sector. Of these, 3719 were women, or 47%.
Amongst them, a total of 5744 teaching staff were registered, with there being a greater presence of men (60%) than women (40%), whilst administration and services personnel were made up of 2208 workers.
For further information:
Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tlf +34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.eus
Contact: Mari Jose Triguero
Tel:+34-945-01 75 46 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Further press releases on University Statistics of the Basque Country
Database on University Statistics of the Basque Country