According to data compiled by the Ministry of Education of the Nation, the number of entrants to national universities throughout the country increased by 67.6% between 2012 and 2021. This means -according to the data published in the document “Synthesis of university information”– that the total of the university system increased a growth of 39.7% in the enrollment of both undergraduate and graduate students in that period.
The report written by the Ministry’s experts abounds in detail. For example, the number of new entrants grew from 423,920 (in 2012) to 710,699 (in 2021).
Meanwhile, the total university system went from 1,824,904 students in undergraduate and graduate courses, a decade ago, to a total of 2,549,789 today. There was also an increase in the number of graduates: that figure increased by 29.4%.
Other sections of the work indicate that the Argentine university system already has 2,730,754 students, who are studying some of the 11,769 undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses.
This number is reached by analyzing the complete offer of the 132 universities that operate throughout the country.
Among the most chosen careers, according to the data collected in 2021, the largest number of students opted for careers related to Social Sciences (33.3%). This figure implies a slight decrease compared to the same election made in previous years.
At the other extreme of vocations, the lowest proportion of students chose to pursue basic sciences, a set of studies that were chosen by 2.5% of the total student body. In the middle are the training options on Science and Technology topics, which added a number of entrants of around 25.5% of the total number of new students.
Regarding the profile of new university students, the report from the Ministry of Education showed that 30.5% of new entrants are between 17 and 19 years old.
On the other hand, the number of students who choose to change careers was also monitored. According to the indicator called “Change rate between academic offers” (TCOA), which is measured for the third consecutive year, it is limited that, in the period 2021-2022, 23% of students chose to make a change during their second year of completed.
Of these, 10.8% did so by migrating to a branch of knowledge different from the one originally planned. This trend was verified to a greater extent in female students who made up 14.2% compared to 8.8% of males.
By the year 2021, 7% of the total undergraduate and graduate academic offers and 4.43% of the postgraduate courses chose to study in the “distance” modality, an option that has had an increasing level of choice in the latter years. Thus, from 2012 to 2021, the number of students who choose this type of course increased by 82.7%.
Another of the items that usually generate controversy in this area of foreign students: in 2021 there were a total of 117,820 foreign students studying in all Argentine universities. Of these, 99,693 carry out undergraduate or graduate studies and 18,127 study postgraduate courses. This group represents 3.9% of all undergraduate and graduate students, and 10% of postgraduate students. Of these totals, 95.93% come from American countries, 2.9% from Europe, and the remaining 1.17% from Asia, Africa and Oceania.
