Completion rates of students in higher education

Name: Completion rates of students in higher education
Topic: Education

Division for Education and Culture Statistics

Figures are presented at the national level and by educational institution. The data includes information that allows for the calculation of figures at other regional levels.

Figures are published annually in June.

Data is provided for UNESCO, OECD and Eurostat (U-O-E).

Collected and revised data are securely stored by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable data processing legislation.

Statistics Norway may grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymized microdata) on which the statistics are based, to researchers and public authorities for the purpose of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access is granted upon application and subject to specific conditions. For more details, refer to Access to data from Statistics Norway.

There is a high demand for the collection of official education statistics. These statistics are based on individuals and document the educational activities of all Norwegian residents, from the completion of lower secondary school to the completion of all levels of tertiary education, including doctoral studies.

Norwegian education statistics underwent a structural reform in the early 1970s. Previously, all statistics on higher education were available through a census. Today, the data is based on individuals, with all educational activities linked to each person's personal ID number. This forms the basis of the National Education Database (NUDB), which enables the production of various individual-based education statistics and plays a key role in tracking student completion rates within the educational system.

The purpose of these statistics is to document the completion rates of students in higher education. They are individually based, tracking each student's educational activities. Statistics on student completion rates were first published in 2004.

These statistics are financed through state assignments.

Key users of education statistics include the Ministry of Education and Research, public administration, research institutions, special interest organizations, media, businesses, industries, and international organizations such as Eurostat, OECD, and UNESCO.

Additionally, the data is used internally within Statistics Norway for publications and assignments.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

The fact that education statistics are individually based makes it easy to link them with other individual-based statistics within Statistics Norway. Education statistics are widely used in other statistical areas, such as labor market, health, living conditions, income, and wages. They are also utilized in various sample surveys and research projects conducted by Statistics Norway.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Commission Regulation (EU) No 88/2011 of 2 February 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning, as regards statistics on education and training systems.

The statistics encompass all students enrolled in universities and colleges in Norway that are classified as igher education institutions under the Standard Industrial Classification. Analyses of stuent completion rates are based on a cohort of new students in a given year (students who began their education for the first time between 1.10.YYYY-1 and -30.09.YYYY) and a description of their progression through the educational system. Alternatively, a cohort of graduates from a specific year is taken and their progression is traced backward through the educational system.

Statistics Norway gathers data from the Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH) and from the administrative systems of the various higher education institutions. Information on Norwegian students studying abroad is sourced from the State Educational Loan Fund. The Health Personnel Register provides additional data on health education.

These statistics do not rely on survey methods; all data is extracted from university and college databases.

In accordance with the Statistical Act, Statistics Norway collects student data from the Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH) and the administrative systems of the various higher education institutions.

Information on students studying abroad is provided by The State Education Loan Fund.

Editing

Editing refers to the process of checking, reviewing, and amending data. All data received from educational institutions undergoes control and revision, which includes removing duplicate records, verifying the accuracy and validity of each variable, and identifying missing information. Several variables are re-coded to align with control programs run by Statistics Norway, and personal ID numbers are cross-checked against Statistics Norway's population database to detect errors.

Estimation

No estimation is conducted. The statistics are based solely on the enumeration of registered students and graduates from higher education.

Interviewers and everyone who works at Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality. Statistics Norway has its own data protection officer.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures where there is a risk of identifying individual data about persons.

The suppression method is used in these statistics to ensure this.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

Individually based data on completed education has been published annually since it was first collected in the 1973/74 school year. While most variables remain comparable, some have changed over time. The revised Norwegian Standard Classification of Education recoded education courses to facilitate comparisons between newer and older data. Although education courses are generally comparable across different periods, other variables - such as the classification of institutions types - are not.

Statistics on student completion rates were first published in 2004. A reform was implemented in 2003, introducing Bachelor's and Master's degrees. As a result, the duration of undergraduate degrees in Norway was reduced from four to three years, and postgraduate degrees from six to five years. Du to this transition, completion rate statistics for students will not be fully comparable during the shift to the new degree structure.

Educational statistics are based on data collected from the administrative systems of various higher education institutions. Errors can occur either during student registration at these institutions or throughout the control and revision processes by Statistics Norway. The exact extent of errors in the registers is difficult to determine. For instance, individuals may be mistakenly recorded as students. Overestimation of student numbers is particularly common at universities where registration is linked to the payment of registration fees rather than the actual enrolment in courses. It is difficult to estimate the scale of studentover-registration.

Underreporting of completed education in the academic years 2004/05 and 2005/06 was primarily an issue with Cand.Mag. degrees (Bachelor of Social Science), as these programmes did not follow a set curriculum. These degrees were often recorded as completed only when the diploma was issued, rather than when the degree was actually completed. This discrepancy could result in underreporting of graduates for the actual academic year. Consequently, these students (graduations) will appear to have taken one year longer than they actually did to complete their degree.

Student completion rates in higher education are defined as the number of years from initial registration in a higher education institution until graduation. The statistics are not adjusted if a student switches to a different degree. Under this definition, very few students who change programs during their studies will be able to graduate within the expected timeframe. Additionally, deferment and part-time studying are not taken into account.