Students in formal education in Gozo and Malta during the academic year 2013/2014 amounted to 69,531 and remained at par with previous year levels, which stood at 69,838. Overall, male students slightly exceeded female students, the National Statistics Office said today.

State run institutions housed 69.0 per cent of total enrolments, while students attending church and independent schools numbered 15,588 and 5,958 respectively. During 2013/2014, female students in tertiary education (ISCED levels 5 to 8) outnumbered males, and comprised 54.9 per cent of total students at these levels.

Total students enrolled in mandatory education during 2013/2014 stood at 45,845. Of these, 24,040 attended primary school, while 21,805 attended secondary school. Albeit an overall decrease in total enrolments, students attending primary schools increased by 1.8 per cent over 2012/2013.

The average class size at primary level was lowest in state schools, followed by independent and by church schools. On the other hand, independent schools at secondary level held the smallest number of students per class.

During 2013/2014, 5.0 per cent of the total students enrolled in formal education were foreigners. This resulted in an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the previous year. The highest proportions of foreign students were present in tertiary education (6.8 per cent) and primary education (6.0 per cent).

An increase of 0.5 percentage points over 2012/2013 was reported in foreigners attending post-secondary general education. The majority of foreign students were EU nationals.

The most popular field of study among tertiary students was social sciences, business and law (34.4 per cent), followed by health and welfare (17.9 per cent) and science (14.0 per cent). Engineering and science were mostly popular among male students, while females had a stronger presence in education and health.

In the vocational sphere, the largest share of students were enrolled in the field of engineering, manufacturing and construction (21.9 per cent of students), followed by the sciences (20.3 per cent of students) and services (17.1 per cent of students).

The most popular foreign language studied at secondary level was Italian (61.0 per cent), followed by French (33.3 per cent), German (9.7 per cent) and Spanish (8.1 per cent).

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