How is the proportion of graduates with nominal duration calculated?

The share of students graduating within the normal duration of studies is calculated as a proportion of students graduating within the nominal duration of the study plus one or two years of the total number of students admitted to higher education studies. Two years are added to study programmes with a nominal duration of at least 8 semesters, one year to study programmes with a shorter nominal duration. Bachelor’s, professional higher education, integrated, master’s and doctoral studies are all taken into account.

This means that the performance metric of the academic year in which the student is counted depends on the duration of their study programme and the matriculation date. And in this calculation, the nominal duration does not extend by academic leave or the additional semester(s) taken abroad.

The following table shows which academic year admission will be taken into account for the 2022/23 academic year for study programmes lasting 1–5 years:

year of admission (active students as of 10.11 of the given year are taken into account)	study programme nominal duration in years
2016/17	5
2017/18	4
2018/19	3.5
2019/20	3
2020/21	2
2021/22	1

For clarification: In calculating the performance of the academic year 2022/23, those study programmes with a 5-year nominal duration are considered which had admission in 2016/17; with 4-year nominal duration those study programmes which had admission in 2017/18, etc.

For example: The student was matriculated in a 3-year study programme on 15.08.2019. Nominal duration +1 year will end on 15.08.2023. If they graduate before that, this graduation will be considered as within the nominal duration, but it does not matter whether they finish in June 2022, January 2023 or June 2023 – it will be within the nominal time nevertheless.

What is the current situation in our university?

20.7% of freshmen matriculated in 2021/22 quit their studies during the first year. Indicators of different schools vary and more accurate data is available in the 2022 Teaching and Learning Annual Report in EST. Thus, if every fifth student already quits in the first year, then only 80% of students remain nominal term graduates. Thus, in order to increase the proportion of graduates with nominal duration, it is necessary to start by reducing the number of students who already quit in the first year of study.

Looking at the proportion of graduates with nominal duration in recent years, the TalTech figure was 52% in the 2021/22 academic year. At the same time at the University of Tartu and Tallinn University, it was 57%. This means that slightly more than half the students matriculated (as of 10 November) in our school finish their studies within the time assigned by the state. More details on how this indicator impacts the university funding can be found from the 2022 Teaching and Learning Annual Report in Est.

Figure 1. Share of students graduating within nominal duration of studies in Estonia's three largest universities, 2016/17–2021/22

Preliminary estimate for the 2022/23 academic year

Although the exact share of students graduating within nominal duration of studies will be revealed after 10 November, in reality, the majority of graduates, who will be taken into account, have already completed their studies. As of 15 August this year, the performance figure for the 2022/23 academic year was 47.5%, it is 4.5 percentage points less than the academic year earlier. If other universities do not experience such a decline and their indicators remain the same or rise, TalTech will lose out significantly in the size of performance funding, and this will also affect the share of base funding for the coming years.

Therefore, it is crucial that we engage with all students right from the first semester, so that they successfully complete their studies according to the nominal duration of their study programme plus additional time and do not quit their studies.