Completion rates of pupils in upper secondary education, 2010-2015

About 64 000 pupils started their upper secondary education for the first time in 2010, and these are included in the statistics on throughput in upper secondary education from 2010 to 2015.

Seventy-three per cent of the pupils completed their upper secondary education and qualified for university or obtained vocational competence within five years. The completion rate is the highest since these statistics were first published for pupils that enrolled in 1994. In recent years, the throughput rate has been around 70 per cent. The increase is among pupils who completed within the nominal study period, with a growth of about 2 per cent from 56.4 per cent the year before.

Correspondingly, the number that dropped out, failed exams or continued in upper secondary education after five years has fallen.

Increase in both sexes and in general studies

As in recent years, the completion rate is higher among women than men, but is increasing in both groups. In 2015, 78 per cent of women and 67 per cent of men completed their upper secondary education within five years, compared to 76 per cent and 66 per cent the year before.

The throughput in vocational studies is unchanged from earlier years, with 58 per cent qualifying for university or obtaining vocational competence in 2015. This means that the general increase is due to a higher throughput in general studies. Here, 77 per cent of the pupils completed within the nominal study period, which was up 4 per cent from the year before. Eighty-six per cent of pupils who started general studies five years earlier had completed and qualified for university or obtained vocational competence by 2015.

Patterns differ in the various education programmes

The average throughput within the various vocational study programmes is 58 per cent. Media and Communication is the programme with the highest throughput, where 81 per cent of the pupils complete within five years.

Compared to pupils on general studies programmes, pupils taking vocational study programmes are more likely to still be in school five years after their course started or to take longer than the nominal study period to complete their studies. The drop out rate for general studies pupils is 6 per cent, while 25 per cent of the pupils starting vocational studies in 2010 dropped out within five years. This figure is especially high in the Restaurant and Food course, where 41 per cent dropped out. The total drop out rate has decreased in recent years, falling to 15 per cent in 2015.

Higher throughput for immigrant pupils

About 7 000 of the pupils starting upper secondary school for the first time in 2010 had an immigrant background (immigrants or Norwegian-born to immigrant parents). The throughput rate among these pupils is 60 per cent. The number completing within the nominal study period increased by two percentage points from the year before. There is still a clear disparity between immigrant and Norwegian-born to immigrant pupils. While 39 per cent of the immigrant pupils completed within the nominal study period, the corresponding figure for Norwegian-born to immigrant parents was 57 per cent.

Among immigrant pupils, the throughput rate is highest amongst the pupils that have lived in the country for the longest period of time. Sixty-one per cent of the immigrant pupils who had lived in Norway for more than ten years before starting upper secondary school completed within five years. However, there are exceptions to this pattern. Pupils that had been in Norway for less than two years before starting their general study programme had a higher throughput (55 per cent) than pupils that had been here for ten years before starting a vocational programme (42 per cent). Only a relatively small number of pupils start a general study programme after living in Norway for two years or less.

School points from lower secondary school dictate future study

As in recent years, we see that lower secondary school points and parents’ educational level influence pupils’ throughput. Pupils with less than 25 school points have a 12 per cent throughput; the corresponding share for pupils with 55 school points or more is almost 100 per cent.

School points also seem to correlate with which type of study programme pupils choose. Less than 1 per cent of pupils gaining 55 school points or more started a vocational study programme.

Ten years of throughput

This year we have had a closer look at the pupils starting their upper secondary education in 2005 in order to see how the throughput rate has changed over a 10-year period. As an example, the pupils in vocational programmes might see a delay in their studies due to waiting times for apprentice placements.

In 2005, about 61 000 pupils started a upper secondary education. Sixty-nine per cent of these completed their course by 2010, and this increased to 78 per cent in 2015. If we divide the pupils in general study programmes and vocational study programmes we see that the rate increases from 83 to 88 per cent among pupils in general studies, and from 57 to 68 per cent among pupils in vocational studies. The difference between the two types of study programmes evens out when we look at throughput in a 10-year perspective, but the disparity is still considerable.