Most European students are satisfied with their studies
Average age of students
As Deutsche Welle notes, in most countries at least half of students are under 25. The youngest students (22-23 years old) enter university in Albania, Georgia, Serbia, Slovakia, and France. In Germany, the average age of university students is 25. The oldest students are in Scandinavia – 30 years and older.
Students and children
A third of them already have children, while in most other countries less than 10 percent are parents themselves. Most students with children are in master's programs. These are mostly women. Only in Ireland, Portugal, Turkey, Serbia, and Malta are there slightly more fathers than mothers in lecture halls. In Germany, 6 percent of students have children.
Gap after school
About 70 percent of European students begin their studies within two years of finishing school. Germany is no exception: only 17 percent of school graduates take a break of more than two years. And this is a gradually increasing trend. Most continue their master's studies no later than a year after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Gender imbalance
In almost all European countries, there is a large gender imbalance in lecture halls: more than 60 percent of students are female.
Exceptions are Germany and Turkey. But even in these countries, the fewest women are in faculties training personnel in information and communication technologies. Conversely, the most popular fields among female students are pedagogy and medical specialties. Only in Germany are natural sciences, mathematics, statistics, and agriculture more popular among women.
Quality of educational services
On average, European students spend about 17 hours per week attending classes and the same amount on independent work. Most of them are satisfied with their studies. The highest ratings for organization of learning and scheduling were given by students at German universities. They, along with students from Finland, France, the Czech Republic, and Scandinavian countries, are also most satisfied with the quality of teaching.
Conversely, in Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Serbia, learning conditions and teaching quality are rated worst by students.
Student wallet
The biggest hole in the student budget is living expenses (89 percent). More than a third of that is rent. It is especially high in Scandinavia, Germany, and France. The lowest in European comparison are in Lithuania, Latvia, and Georgia. In large cities, rent is higher than in cities with a population under 100,000.
About 20 percent of expenses go to food, 4 percent to phone and internet bills. Study-related expenses account for 11 percent. On average, students pay two-thirds of expenses themselves, while parents cover one-third. 80 percent of students receive financial support from parents or a partner.
Student jobs
Students working during the semester and holidays are a reality in many countries. More than half of them cover living and study expenses through part-time work. They spend 5 to 20 hours per week on this.
Students living away from parents work on average two hours more. Students in Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Iceland have to work the most. Conversely, the highest percentage of those who devote time only to studies is in Georgia, Albania, and Serbia.
Parental income
Common to all European countries: parents' financial wealth largely determines the choice of educational institution and future profession, as well as the student budget. Students whose parents did not receive higher education enter university later, more often limit themselves to bachelor's programs, and spend more time working during their studies.
In most countries, higher education is obtained by people from middle-income families. Only Germany, Ireland, Croatia, Romania, and Turkey differ in that a relatively large share of applicants come from low-income or below-average income families – about a quarter of all students. The richest parents are in Albania, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Who students live with
Living in the parental home is the most common form of student housing in Europe. The latest to leave mom are in Malta, Italy, and Georgia. But those who think the reason is a lack of money are mistaken: the "Hotel Mom" is most often chosen by students from wealthy families. In Scandinavia, Austria, and Germany, students try to live independently while studying.
In Germany, a third of students live in shared apartments, and 12 percent in dormitories. On average in Europe, dormitories are used by about one in five students. And only one in ten lives alone.
Student mobility
Overall in Europe, 20 percent of students have experience studying or working abroad. Germany and Scandinavia have the highest academic mobility – one in ten goes abroad for knowledge.
Women are more likely than men to study abroad. Humanities and social sciences, art, journalism, law, business administration are the fields with the highest number of mobile students. The fewest are in IT.
63 percent of European students do internships abroad through EU scholarship programs, the most popular of which is Erasmus. And 12 percent plan to study for a master's degree abroad.