EUROSTUDENT DATABASE

The database provides key indicators on all topics covered by the EUROSTUDENT survey, for all participating countries.

To browse through the database, please select (on top):

an indicator within "TOPICS",
an indicator of the "FOCUS GROUPS" to cross the data,
at least one of the "COUNTRIES". By default, all Eurostudent 8 countries are selected.

Furthermore, it is possible to switch between current data of the eighth EUROSTUDENT ROUND (2021-2024) to data of the seventh (2018-2021), the sixth (2016-2018), or the fifth (2012-2015) round, if the respective indicators have been used at the time. When switching between rounds, your last country selection is automatically retained, but you can adjust it by clicking on "COUNTRIES".

In addition to the charts and tables with detailed results, you can find (thematic) reports and other publications providing interpretations of several topics at the EUROSTUDENT website.

If you have questions or remarks regarding the EUROSTUDENT database, please feel free to contact us via eurostudent@ihs.ac.at

The database allows you to look at the average of the entire EUROSTUDENT population of the respective countries selected by choosing the focus group "all students". This helps you to identify and compare the general overall trends at a national level. It is, however, also possible to select and compare so-called "focus groups" of students for all indicators. These focus groups are based on the main characteristics of students and their study and living situation.

The database supports cross-country comparisons for both - all students or specific focus groups. Please note, however, that the data visualisation (in charts) has its limitations and if too many countries have been selected at once, viewing and interpreting of the figure might become difficult.

For each country, deviations from the EUROSTUDENT conventions reported by the national research team (such as different wording in the questionnaire, splitting of categories, changes in data cleaning etc.) are noted at the bottom of each page ("country deviation") using separate tabs for the countries selected. Please read them carefully for a meaningful data interpretation. For more information on the general definition and national deviations from the EUROSTUDENT target group conventions, please check > Methodological notes. Be aware that these methodological notes may differ in certain aspects between the different rounds of EUROSTUDENT that can be selected.

All data is available for download. In order to download and save your current selection (specific indicators, countries and focus groups) as a MS Excel, please use the download option at the bottom of each table.

EUROSTUDENT 8 target group

The EUROSTUDENT target group includes all students who are at the time of observation (usually: semester) enrolled in any national study programme regarded to be higher education in a country. Usually that corresponds to ISCED levels 5, 6, and 7. This means all students should be included regardless of:

Nationality – National and foreign students should be included, as long as they are studying for a full degree in the country of observation (and are not only obtaining a limited number of credits, e.g. as an Erasmus student).
Full-time/part-time status – Full-time, part-time, correspondence, and distance students (including those in fully online degrees) should be included, as long as they live in the country of survey during the current lecture period. This represents a change from previous rounds of EUROSTUDENT, in which distance learning students in fully online degrees were excluded from the sample.
Character of the higher education institution (HEI) or study programme – General as well as professional orientations of HEIs and study programmes should be included, as long as the programmes and institutions are considered to be higher education in the national context.
Legal character of the HEI – Public and private institutions should be included, as long as private institutions are considered to be a regular part of the higher education system in the national context.

Excluded from the EUROSTUDENT target group are:

Students on (temporary) leave, i.e. students who have officially or non-officially interrupted their studies at the time of observation for whatever reason.
Students on credit mobility, short-term mobile students (e.g. Erasmus students), i.e. students who are currently studying in the country of observation (incoming) or who have currently left the country of observation (outgoing) for a short time period (e.g. one or two semesters) with the purpose of gaining only a relatively small number of credits.
Students in ISCED 8 study programmes (PhD and doctoral programmes).
Students in distance learning study programmes (only virtual classes) who do not live in the country of survey during the current lecture period.
Students at very specialised HEIs, e.g. military or police academies, or HEIs directly affiliated with one company. This might also include programmes providing training only for public administration.
Students in programmes classified as ISCED (2011) levels 5 or 6 which are not regarded to be higher education in the national context. This could encompass, for example, further vocational training programmes for Master crafts(wo)men, or upper secondary schools or post-secondary programmes not regarded as higher education.
Students enrolled in higher education but not entitled to finish a common programme. This might be students with an `extra-ordinary' or `guest' status or students only enrolled in single courses if they are not allowed to graduate from an entire, ordinary programme (i.e. their achievements will not be recognised for a common title like Bachelor or Master).

Notes on national samples and deviations from the EUROSTUDENT standard target groups

Not all countries were able to fully comply with the standard target groups. The following countries indicated deviations from the EUROSTUDENT conventions:

Netherlands: Private institutions (covering around 7 % of students) are not included in the sample. This constitutes a deviation from the EUROSTUDENT target group.

Ireland: No private institutions are included in the sample. This constitutes a deviation from the EUROSTUDENT target group.

Further information can be found in the comprehensive EUROSTUDENT 8 Synopsis of Indicators.

EUROSTUDENT 8 focus groups

Characteristics & background

Age group: Students' age in years at time of survey. Calculated by asking students for the month and year of their birth.
Sex (binary): Sex, indicated by students, only male/female included in focus group.
Sex (incl. extra cat.): Sex, indicated by students, including the options "other" and "I prefer not to assign myself into the above-mentioned categories".
Educational origin: Country where students obtained their general higher education entrance qualification. International students = students who obtained their education prior to entering HE outside the country of survey.
Migration background: Migration background distinguished firstly by the country of birth of the student (first and second generation) and secondly by the students’ parents’ country of birth. The category “other” depicts students who were born abroad but have a native background.
Migration and education background: Migration background distinguished firstly by the country of birth of the student (first and second generation) and secondly by the students’ parents’ country of birth. The category “other” depicts students who were born abroad but have a native background. Additionally, it is differentiated between students who obtained their prior education (HE entrance certificate) in the country of survey and those who obtained it abroad (international students).
Parents' highest education: The highest level of education from parents or guardians.
Parents' financial status: Students' assessment of how wealthy their parents are (5-point scale from very well-off to not at all well-off).

Transition and access

Route to higher education: Students with "non-traditional route" either do not have a matura/A-levels or foreign equivalent and/or did not obtain it within 6 months after finishing regular upper secondary school.
Transition to higher education: Duration of the transition to higher education. "Delayed transition" is defined as period of more than 2 years between leaving the regular school system (i.e. excluding adult learning or similar) for the first time and entering higher education for the first time.
Transition to Master's programme: Duration of the transition into a Master programme. "Delayed transition" is defined as more than 2 years between studies.

Time in higher education

First year students: Students who are (not) in their first year of their higher education studies. Students who first enrolled in HE after August in year of survey are in their first year.
Years of study: Years of study in current programme.
Only Bachelor: years of study: Years of study in current programme - only bachelor students included.
Only Master: years of study: Years of study in current programme - only master students included.
Enrolment & COVID-19 outbreak: Students who already studied/did not study before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Programme characteristics

Type of study programme: Degree with which the current (main) study programme of the students concludes.
Field of study (20 fields): Fields of study adapted from the international standard classification (ISCED_F 2013) to reflect content similarity, splitted into 20 different fields.
Field of study (10 fields): Fields of study based on the international standard classification (ISCED_F 2013), splitted into 10 different fields.
Full-time/part-time programme: Modus of study officially registered and recognized by law as such by state order and/or higher education institutions in the respective country.
Online/In person teaching: Self-reported share of de facto online teaching in the current programme.
Self-assessment study performance: Self-assessment of students' performance so far in the current (main) study programme in comparison to fellow students.

HEI characteristics

Type of higher education institution: Type of higher education institution the students are studying at.
Study location: Size of the study location (population size). The population size of the study location was indirectly determined through the city/town name provided by the students. The population size was later allocated during data processing.
ETER: Institutional control: Differentiating HEIs under public control or mostly financed by the state from private HEIs and those mostly funded by private sources; ETER data.
ETER: Right to award PhD: Institutions' legal right to award a PhD; ETER data.
ETER: Total academic personnel (FTE): Total academic personnel in full-time equivalent: FTE; ETER data.
ETER: Number of students/academic staff (FTE): Number of students by academic staff in full-time equivalent: FTE; ETER data.
ETER: Number of master students/all students: Number of MA students by all students; ETER data.
ETER: Concentration of subjects: index computed as the sum of the squares of the share of Bachelor and Master students in each of the 10 ISCED-F 2013 subject fields (Herfindahl concentration index), ranging from 1 = all students in a single field to 0.1 = students equally distributed between fields; ETER data.
ETER: Number of PhD/all students: HEI’s number of PhD students divided by number of students; ETER data.
ETER: Relative specialisation in STEM: Share of students studying in STEM fields by average share of students; ETER data.

Living conditions

Form of housing: Housing of students during the current lecture period (Monday to Friday).
Living with parents: Students (not) living with parents during the current lecture period (Monday to Friday).
Living in student accommodation: Students (not) living in a student accommodation during the current lecture period (Monday to Friday), only students not living with parents included.

Financial situation

Dependency on income source: Students who are dependent on one income source (> 50 % of the income).
Recipients of public student support: Students who (do not) receive public student support.
Fee-paying: Students who (do not) have to pay students' fees.
Financial difficulties: Students’ self-assessment on whether they are facing financial difficulties on a scale from 1 “very seriously” to 5 “not at all”; grouped into 2 categories. The first one consists of answer options 1+2 “(very) seriously”, describing those with financial difficulties. The second consists of answer categories 4+5 “not (at all)” and maps the students without financial difficulties.

Working students

Students in paid employment: Number of hours students work during the current lecture period.
Relationship job and studies: Self-reported relationship between paid job and content of study programme.
Self-perception as student/worker: Self-categorisation as (rather) student/worker, only working students included.
Works to cover living costs: Agreement to the statement "I work to cover my living costs".
Works to gain experience: Agreement to the statement "I work to gain experience on the labour market".
Works to afford to study: Agreement to the statement "Without my paid job, I could not afford to be a student".
Works to support others: Agreement to the statement "I work because I have to support others financially (children, partner, parents etc.)”.

Time budget

Time spent on paid jobs: Average time spent on paid jobs during week in lecture period (in hours).
Time spent on study-related activities: Average time spent on study-related activities (taught courses and personal study time) during week in lecture period (in hours).
Study intensity: Students grouped into three categories according to their weekly workload in a typical week for study-related activities (taught courses and personal study time). Low-intensity students spend between 0 and 20 hours a week on study- related activities. Medium-intensity students spend more than 20 but no more than 40 hours a week on study-related activities. High-intensity students spend more than 40 hours a week on study-related activities.
Satisfaction with time budget: Self-reported satisfaction with their time-budget.
Assessment of time spent on paid job(s): Self-assessment of time spent on paid job(s).
Assessment of time spent on taught studies: Self-assessment of time spent on taught studies.
Assessment of time spent on personal studies: Self-assessment of time spent on personal studies.

Mobility

Temporary enrolment abroad: Students' experience/plans for enrolment abroad.
Experience abroad: Students' study/internship/other experiences abroad.

Health, well-being, discrimination

Disability limiting in studies: Students with/without disability limiting them in their studies.
Severity of limitation in studies: Severity of limitation in studies because of disability.
Mental well-being: WHO-5 mental well-being scale (dichotomous). The scale on mental well-being is based on the World Health Organisation-Five Well-Being index. It comprises five items, answered on a six-point scale (0 to 5). The total score (ranging from 0 to 25) is multiplied by 4, resulting in a scale between 0 (worst well-being possible) and 100 (best imaginable well-being). Sufficient well-being = 51-100.
Discrimination: Self-reported discrimination in context of studies (due to at least one of the following criteria: skin colour, ancestry/nationality, religion, gender, sexuality, age, weight, a disability, mental health, income, parents' education; by at least one of the following group: fellow students, teaching staff, other university staff).

EUROSTUDENT 8

Project Sponsors

Funded with the support of all participating countries. Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and the following bodies.

The funders are not responsible for the content.

Focus Group: