Student Enrolment in Tertiary Education, Slovenia, Academic Year 2018/2019

Fewer students for the ninth year in a row
In the academic year 2018/19, 75,991 students were enrolled in tertiary education, 0.7% fewer than in the previous academic year (76,534) and 34.2% fewer than ten years ago (115,445). The number of tertiary education students dropped for the ninth year in a row. In the last nine years, the number of tertiary education students decreased by almost 39,000 or on average 4,320 students per academic year.

9.4% more doctoral students than in the previous academic year
In the academic year 2018/19, 10,566 students were enrolled in higher vocational education and 65,425 in higher education. Compared to the previous academic year, the number of enrolled students increased the most in education leading to doctorate of science (third Bologna cycle) (from 2,824 to 3,089 or by 9.4%) and in higher vocational education (from 10,353 to 10,566 or by 2.1%). On the other hand, the number of students decreased the most in master's education (second Bologna cycle) – uniform master's (from 4,687 to 4,514 or by 3.7%). Moreover, 45,863 students were enrolled in study programmes to obtain their first higher education diploma, i.e. professional and academic higher education (both first Bologna cycle) and master's education (second Bologna cycle) – uniform master's, which is 1.4% fewer than in the previous academic year (46,527).

More newcomers than in the previous academic year
Even though the number of tertiary education students in the academic year 2018/19 decreased, the number of newcomers in the higher education increased. In the academic year 2018/19, 15,156 students were enrolled for the first time in the first year of undergraduate studies, which is 4.1% more than in the previous academic year (14,560).

Most students in the fields of engineering, manufacturing and construction
In the academic year 2018/19, most students were enrolled in the study programs in the fields of engineering, manufacturing and construction (13,974 or 18.4%), followed by business, administration and law (13,784 or 18.1%), and health and social security (10,224 or 13.5 %). In contrast, the fewest students were enrolled in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary medicine (2,320 or 3.1%) and information and communication technologies (3,842 or 5.1%).

More mobile students than in the previous academic year
Among all students enrolled in the academic year 2018/19, 5,071 or 6.7% were mobile students, i.e. students with registered permanent residence abroad, from more than 100 different countries. As in the previous academic years, half of them were from the countries of the former Yugoslavia (2,643 or 52.1%), one third from the EU member states (1,755 or 34.6%), and others from other countries (673 or 13.3 %). Compared to the previous academic year, the number of mobile students increased by 48.3%, and their share among all tertiary education students by 2.2 percentage points. The highest increase in the number of mobile students was observed in education leading to doctorate of science (third Bologna cycle); in the academic year 2018/19, there were twice as many students from abroad as in the previous academic year (587 vs. 277).