In 2021, the number of students registered in all institutions of higher education in Albania, whether public or non-public, is 123,880. Of these, 73,493 (59%) are girls and the rest, 50,387, are boys (41%).
The majority of Albanian youth studies “business, administration and law”, of which, specifically for 2021, there are 32,227 students registered in these profiles, among them 19,180 (61%) are girls and 12,417 boys (39 %).
“Engineering, production and construction” is the number two branch in terms of preference, in which 22 555 students were registered in 2021, of which 15 210 are boys (67%) and the rest 7 345 (33%) are girls.
The third branch in terms of the number of students enrolled is “health and wellness” with 22,130 students in 2021. Of the later, 5,165 (23%) are boys and 16,965 (77%) are girls.
The field with the lowest number of enrolled students is “Agriculture, forestry, fishing and veterinary” with only 2,770 students for 2021, of which 1,301 (47%) are girls and 1,469 are boys (53%). Next ranked is the field of “services”, which marks 4,362 students registered in 2021. Of these, only 29% (1,244 students) are girls, while 71% (3,118) are boys.
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The number of students enrolled in higher education has decreased over the years. The fields most affected by the decline are “Agriculture, forestry, fishing and veterinary” with a decrease of 45% in 2021, compared to 2018. The decline from 2018 to 2021 in the “Natural science, mathematics and statistics” fields of study is 36%. The “Social science, journalism and information” fields of study (by 35%) and “Arts and humanities” (by 34%) have experienced almost the same decline rates.
On the other hand, there have also been some fields of study that have seen an increase in the number of student enrollment throughout the years. These fields are “Services” (2%), “Health and wellness” (7%) and “Engineering, manufacturing and construction” (13%).
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Girl students enrolled in 2021 display a growing interest in the “Health and well-being” fields of study (13%), “Engineering, production and construction” (9%) and “Business, administration and law” (1%).
The three fields that have suffered the greatest decline in the number of enrolled girl tudents are “Agriculture, forestry and fishing” (by 39%), “Arts and humanities” (by 35%) and “Social sciences, journalism and communication” (by 32%).
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
In 2021, there were 15% more boys enrolled in “Engineering, production and construction” fields than in 2018. The other field that saw an increase in the number of boys registered is the “Services” field (6%).
The three fields with the greatest decrease in the number of registered boys were: “Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics” (by 49%), “Agriculture, forestry, fishing and veterinary medicine (by 49%) and “Social sciences, journalism and communication” (by 42%).
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Regarding the selection of study areas, girls prefer to choose to study “business administration and law”. Around 27% of girls enrolled in public or private universities in the country in 2021 study in this field of study. The second favorite area for girls is “health and wellness “, a profile where 23.1% of girls study. The third area most desired by girls is “engineering, production and construction” (10%).
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The area of “engineering, production and construction” has presented an upwards trend over the last few years in terms of the number of enrolled girl students. For the years 2018, 2019, and 2020, the third most preferred field of study for girls was “Arts and Humanities”. The fourth favorite field was “Social science, journalism and information”. The fifth favorite field was “Science education” (in 2020 it was sixth), followed, in the end, by “engineering, production and construction”.
Table: Share of girls enrolled by area of study, during the 2018-2021 period
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Boy students prefer to study in “Engineering, production and construction”, where, in 2021, were enrolled 30.2% of them.
24.6% of boy students were registered in “Business, administration and law” and 11.1% of them were registered in 2021 in “Information and communication technology”. The last three branches have been the most preferred branches by boy students, throughout the years under review.
Table: Share of boys enrolled by area of study, during the 2018-2021 period
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
From what we can deduce from the above mentioned statistics, is that girl students prefer “Business, administration and law”, while boy students prefer “Engineering, production and construction”. Girl students prefer “Health and wellness” as their second choice, while in the case of boy students that is their fourth choice, out of ten in total.
Boy students choose “Information and Communication Technology”, whereas for girl students that is their eighth choice, out of ten in total. More information can be accessed by clicking the Excel sheet below the article.
Download excel: Preferences for University Studies by Gender GroupsComments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Contributed by: Ilir Brasha
Translated by: Rezarta Cushaj