2.3 GRADUATION TIME AND AGE

No precise number of attendance months could be specified on the basis of the research material. However, the average time spent from enrolment at the University to the completion of the Master of Science in Engineering degree in the entire research population was 6 years and 8 months. The estimated difference between the latter and former calculation methods amounts to approximately six months of the average graduation time. At its fastest, the Master’s degree had been completed in 2 years and 4 months, whereas the longest period taken for graduation was 19 years and 6 months since enrolment at the University. Those who had attended the International Graduate School were not included in the calculation, since they had already taken their B.Sc. degree. Their average graduation time was 1 year and 3 months. Figure 3 presents the graduate volumes distributed in accordance with the total length of studies.

Although there were more than two years’ differences in the average graduation time between separate years, the average graduation times between those graduated in the 1980’s and 1990’s, respectively, were relatively similar (those graduated in the present decade had graduated 2 months faster). What was noteworthy was that at the beginning of the 1990’s (1991-1993), during what are called the depression years, the average graduation time of those who had completed their studies was six months shorter than the average of the entire research population. A minor difference could be discerned in the graduation time between males and females: females had graduated on average in a period 9 months shorter than males. However, it must be born in mind in the comparison that data concerning the students’ attendance months were unfortunately not available.

The time spent for completing the degree for those who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute was on average as long (6 years and 9 months) as for the entire research population. The shortest graduation time among these persons was 3 years and 2 months and the longest 14 years and 4 months since enrolment at the University. In this group, the average graduation time of females was six months shorter than that of males. Conversely, the average graduation time of those who had graduated in the 1980’s and 1990’s was the same with an accuracy of one month.

The age distribution of the students who had included Biomedical Engineering in their degree programme at the moment of graduation (Figure 4) corresponds quite well with the general age distribution of TUT graduates. At the time of completing the Master’s degree, the average age of those who had included Biomedical Engineering in their degree was 26. The youngest were 22 at the moment of graduation, and the oldest 33 years of age. One person was at the age of 42 upon graduation.

The age of persons who had submitted their Master’s thesis to Ragnar Granit Institute varied between 23 and 33. The average graduation age among this group was also 26.

Figure 4. Age distribution at the moment of graduation of students who had included Biomedical Engineering in their degree programme (n = 272).