Parents’ education is significant

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About 66 per cent of students who entered higher education in 2008 completed a degree within eight years. Completion rates differ depending on the level of parents’ education.

The higher the education that one of the parents has, the more likely it is that a student will complete a degree within eight years.

Figure 1. New entrants to higher education in 2008¹, by parents educational level and awarded qualification after 8 years

Higher education, long Higher education, short Upper secondary education Primary and lower secondary education
Doctorates, Ph.D 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0
Tertiary graduates from programs longer than 4 years 46.7 29.8 14.3 7.6
Tertiary graduates from 2-4 year programs 30.9 45.2 47.5 38.5
No awarded qualification 22.2 25.0 38.2 53.8

Of the new students in 2008 whose parents had a long tertiary education, 73 per cent had earned a degree after eight years. By comparison, the corresponding share for students whose parents had only a lower secondary education was 46 per cent.

The impact of parents’ level of education is more significant among students on degree programmes lasting more than four years. Forty-seven per cent of students whose parents had a long tertiary education completed a degree from programmes longer than four years. The corresponding figure for students whose parents had lower secondary education was 8 per cent.

Twenty-five per cent of all new students in 2008 completed a degree of more than four years by 2016.

 

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