The number of students choosing to continue into post-secondary education has been on a consistent downturn during a five-year period, according to the latest statistics published by the NSO.

While 6,000 students registered for sixth form in the 2014/15 academic year, the number had dwindled to 4,866 by March 2019 - a decline of almost 19 per cent. The total number of post-secondary and tertiary students stood at 20,806 in 2019.

The most popular fields of study for post-secondary and tertiary students were business, administration and law which accounted for 24.6% of enrolled students, health at 19.7%, arts and humanities at 10.6% and engineering, manufacturing and construction at 9.7%.

In terms of geographical location, students attending post-secondary and tertiary institutions largely came from the northern harbour region (29.3%), followed by the northern region (16.5%). The southern harbour region accounted for 15.5% of students while the smallest cohort (7.9%) came from Gozo.

The 2018/2019 academic year saw a total of 7,897 graduates from post-secondary and tertiary education.

The NSO figures show that the majority of students across all stages of education attend state schools, but the share of students in independent and church schools range differently.

The majority (71.3%) of pre-primary students attended state schools up to March 2019, while comparatively just 18.2% and 10.5% of children attended independent and Church schools.

State school dominance drops when it comes to primary and secondary students, 57.3% and 53.5% of whom attended government schools.

State-run institutions also have the lion’s share of post-secondary students, with 76.6% of the cohort in attendance at a public school.