These statistics on student enrolments and qualifications obtained by higher education (HE) students at HE providers in the UK are produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Information is available for:
Earlier higher education student statistics bulletins are available on the https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/statistical-first-releases?date_filter%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=&topic%5B%5D=4" class="govuk-link">HESA website.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License information was derived automatically
This bulletin is the annual first release of HESA student data. It covers data about higher education students and qualifiers from the following types of providers within the UK: Higher education (HE) providers in England registered with the Office for Students (OfS) in the Approved (fee cap) or Approved categories; Publicly funded HE providers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; and Further education (FE) colleges in Wales. These providers submit data to HESA via either the Student record or the Student alternative record. This is the third year that data from both records have been combined together in the figures within this release to provide a more complete picture of higher education within the UK. Further details on coverage can be seen in the notes section of this release. This bulletin also includes information from the HESA Aggregate Offshore record and can be seen in Figure 12. This separate record counts students studying wholly outside the UK who are either registered with the reporting HE provider or who are studying for an award of the reporting HE provider.
This release includes more detail on higher education students than was published in the student statistics bulletin in January 2022.
These statistics on student enrolments and qualifications obtained by higher education (HE) students at HE providers in the UK are produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Information is available for:
The dataset comprises 13 interview transcripts, with sensitive information redacted. These interviews were conducted online during the Spring and Summer of 2021 and involved international students who had participated in study abroad or degree-seeking programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews focused on the students' experiences as they transitioned from traditional in-person programs to online and blended learning due to pandemic-related isolation measures.
Statistics on student support paid to students in the form of loans and grants, or to their university or college in the form of tuition fees.
The students are English domiciles studying anywhere in the UK or EU students studying in England.
In 2023/24 there were estimated to be over *** million students enrolled in higher education courses in the United Kingdom, compared with 2.94 million in 2022/23, the highest number of enrolled students during this provided time period. Although the number of students in the UK fell from *** million in 2011/12 to **** by 2014/15, this trend reversed in subsequent years, reaching the peak in the most recent year. Largest UK universities At ******* students, the mainly remote, Open University had the largest number of students enrolled among UK-based higher education institutions in 2022/23. University College London had the second-highest number of students at ******, followed by the University of Manchester at ******. At the UK's two oldest and most prestigious universities, Oxford and Cambridge, there were ******, and ****** students respectively. The university with the most students in Scotland was the University of Glasgow at *******students, with Wales' being Cardiff University at ****** students, and Northern Ireland's Ulster University having ****** students. Student Debt in the UK For students that graduated from English universities in 2024, the average student loan debt incurred over the course of their studies was over ****** British pounds. Although students graduated with less debt from universities in Wales, Northern Ireland, and especially Scotland, this too has been growing recently. In 2024, students from Scottish Universities graduated with an average of ****** pounds of debt, compared with ****** in Wales, and ****** in Northern Ireland. The overall outstanding student loan debt in the UK reached over *** billion pounds in 2023/24, with the vast majority of this debt from students who studied in England.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License information was derived automatically
This bulletin provides details of staff employment at UK higher education (HE) providers on 1 December 2021. Detailed analysis of the HESA staff record is available in the Higher Education Staff Open Data, released on 21 February 2023. This bulletin has been produced by Jisc in collaboration with statisticians from the Department for Education, the Office for Students, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. It has been released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Students from the Chinese ethnic group had the highest entry rate into higher education in every year from 2006 to 2024.
Official statistics are produced impartially and free from political influence.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Experimental statistics from the Student Experiences Insights Survey (SEIS) in England. Includes information on the behaviours, plans, opinions and well-being of higher education students in their third year or higher in the context of guidance on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The period covered in this dataset is 29 November to 20 December 2021.
Statistics on student support paid to students in the form of loans and grants, or to their university or college in the form of tuition fees.
The students are Welsh domiciles studying anywhere in the UK or EU students studying in Wales.
Statistics on student support paid to students in the form of loans and grants, or to their university or college in the form of tuition fees.
The students are Northern Ireland domiciles studying anywhere in the UK, ROI or EU students studying in Northern Ireland.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Forecast mean number of years of funding per higher education undergraduate student for students starting between 2021/22 and 2027/28 by loan type
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
36.1% of white undergraduate students got a first class degree in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, compared with 17.3% of black students.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Forecast mean loan outlay per academic year per higher education undergraduate student, by loan product across 2021/22 to 2026/27
In 2023/24, the Open University, which focuses on remote learning, had approximately ******* students enrolled on courses, the highest in the UK during that academic year. After the Open University, University College London had the highest number of students in the UK, at ******, while the University of Manchester had the second-highest, at ******. The UK's oldest university, The University of Oxford, had ****** students studying there in this academic year.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License information was derived automatically
Example data sets, syntax files and macros for the tutorials in: Balloo, K., & Winstone, N. E. (2021). A primer on gathering and analysing multi-level quantitative evidence for differential student outcomes in higher education. Frontline Learning Research. https://doi.org/10.14786/flr.v9i2.675 The data for all examples are fictional, and have only been designed to simulate the possible behaviour of institutional data for the purposes of demonstrating the analytical approaches in the primer. No inferences or conclusions should be drawn from the findings of these examples, because the results are not real. We anticipate that readers can use the example data sets as templates and substitute in their own data.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all usual residents aged 5 years and over in England and Wales with a schoolchild/student indicator. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.
Schoolchild or full-time student indicator (3 categories)
Indicates whether a person aged 5 years and over was in full-time education on Census Day, 21 March 2021. This includes schoolchildren and adults in full-time education.
Schoolchildren and students in full-time education studying away from home are treated as usually resident at their term-time address.
Area type
Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.
For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.
Coverage
Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. However, you can choose to filter areas by:
country - for example, Wales region - for example, London local authority - for example, Cornwall health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA
Lower Tier Local Authorities
Lower tier local authorities provide a range of local services. In England there are 309 lower tier local authorities. These are made up of non-metropolitan districts (181), unitary authorities (59), metropolitan districts (36) and London boroughs (33, including City of London). In Wales there are 22 local authorities made up of 22 unitary authorities. Of these local authority types, only non-metropolitan districts are not additionally classified as upper tier local authorities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on mental health; because students are particularly vulnerable to loneliness, isolation, stress and unhealthy lifestyle choices, their mental health and wellbeing may potentially be more severely impacted by lockdown measures than the general population. This study assessed the mental health and wellbeing of UK undergraduate students during and after the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected via online questionnaire at 3 time points – during the latter part of the first wave of the pandemic (spring/summer 2020; n=46) while stringent lockdown measures were still in place but gradually being relaxed; during the second wave of the pandemic (winter 2020-21; n=86) while local lockdowns were in place across the UK; and during the winter of 2021-22 (n=77), when infection rates were high but no lockdown measures were in place. Stress was found to most strongly predict wellbeing and mental health measures during the two pandemic waves. Other substantial predictors were diet quality and intolerance of uncertainty. Positive wellbeing was the least well accounted for of our outcome variables. Conversely, we found that depression and anxiety were higher during winter 2021-22 (no lockdowns) than winter 2020-21 (under lockdown). This may be due to the high rates of infection over that period and the effects of COVID-19 infection itself on mental health. This suggests that, as significant as the effects of lockdowns were on the wellbeing of the nation, not implementing lockdown measures could potentially have been even more detrimental for mental health. The design of the study is a cross-sectional survey. These data were collected via online questionnaire survey (Qualtrics; export attached) distributed at 3 time points (different group of participants at each time point, not repeated measures). We collected data via opportunity sampling from student volunteers. Some of these were collected via our institutional 'participant pool', where students receive credits for participating in studies, and others were collected via advertising on social media etc. The participants were Higher Education students aged 18+ at any UK institution at the time of study entry (including both undergraduate and postgraduate students). There were no other inclusion/ exclusion criteria.
These statistics on student enrolments and qualifications obtained by higher education (HE) students at HE providers in the UK are produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Information is available for:
Earlier higher education student statistics bulletins are available on the https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/statistical-first-releases?date_filter%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=&topic%5B%5D=4" class="govuk-link">HESA website.