Note: Following the revision of estimates from the Labour Force Survey, the estimates in tables V.1 to V.8 were revised on 16-11-2023.

In the academic year 2021/2022

68.6% of diplomas were conferred upon students between the ages of 20 and 24

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) has updated the "Time Series of Education in the Autonomous Region of Madeira" with data on higher education graduates for the academic year 2021/2022,  provided by the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC).

It is important to approach any analysis of the progression in the number of higher education graduates between the academic years 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022 with caution due to methodological changes in data reporting. The limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education institutions resulted in considering all students who completed their respective courses by the end of February in subsequent years as graduates for the academic years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

The return to a "normal" state, where only students who have completed their courses by the end of December are counted as "graduates" for a particular academic year, led to a reduction in the number of graduates in 2021/2022 compared to the two previous academic years. This decrease is not due to inherent reasons within the system's operation, but solely due to the resumption of the temporal framework used to generate these statistics.

In the academic year 2021/2022, the number of graduates from higher education institutions in the region decreased by 9.8%, with a total of 793 graduates (86 fewer than the previous academic year). Among these, 485 diplomas were awarded in university-level education, constituting 61.2% of the total, while 308 diplomas were conferred in polytechnic education, representing the remaining 38.8%.

The number of female graduates (57.8% of the total) continues to exceed that of male graduates (42.2%). The age distribution of graduates continues to peak in the 20-24 age group, accounting for 68.6% of the total graduates in the academic year under review (compared to 62.3% in 2020/2021). The 25-29 age group follows with 14.1% (down from 19.6% in 2020/2021), while the 40 and over age group constitutes 9.3% (up from 7.2% in 2020/2021). This academic year saw 28.7 graduates per 1,000 inhabitants aged 20 to 29, a figure higher than that of the 2018/19 academic year (27.8 per thousand inhabitants) yet lower than the previous two academic years (32.6 per thousand inhabitants in 2020/2021 and 29.3 per thousand inhabitants in 2019/20).

It is clear that in the academic year 2021/2022, the number of graduates from public higher education institutions reached the second-highest value in the series, with 743 graduates (93.7% of the total). Only in the academic year 2007/2008 was a higher value recorded, at 800 graduates, though this was proportionally lower (79.7%). Conversely, the number of graduates from private higher education establishments reached the second-lowest value in the series, with only 50 graduates (compared to 46 in 2013/2014).

Regarding education and training among higher education graduates in 2021/2022, the field of "Social and Behavioural Sciences" recorded the highest number of graduates (127; 16.0% of the total), followed by "Business and Administration Sciences" (121; 15.3% of the total). The field of "Education" saw its lowest value since 2007/2008, with only 79 graduates (10.0% of the total) in the academic year under review. This marked a decrease of 39.7% compared to the corresponding period, being surpassed by the fields of "Engineering and Related Technologies" (82; 10.3% of the total) and "Personal Services" (115; 14.5% of the total). As in previous years, the fields with less demand among graduates were "Humanities (excluding languages)" (2; 0.3%) and "Physical Sciences" (3; 0.4%).

The distribution of diplomas in higher education by study cycles reveals a prevalence of 64.1% in Bachelor's degrees, 10.7% in Master's degrees, and 0.5% in Doctorates. Graduates from "Higher Professional Technical Courses" accounted for 24.7% of the total number of graduates.

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