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.

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.

This file contains information on the number of higher education students in the UK, broken down by sex, level of education, mode of study, subject group and domicile.

There were 133,265 students enrolled at the UK-based Open University for the 2023/24 academic year, compared with 140,215 in the 2022/23 academic year, which was by far the highest number of students enrolled during this provided time period and a reflection of the move towards distant learning after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The international student population of England and Wales by country of birth, passport held, age, sex and other characteristics.

This bulletin is the annual first release of HESA student data. It draws upon data from the revised student data collection (delivered by the Data Futures programme) and marks the second year of reporting using the new data model. Once again, a comprehensive quality assessment has been undertaken on the dataset and this is detailed in our accompanying student data quality report. A detailed list of findings is available in the data quality and insights resource, which is also accompanied by provider specific data notes. The coverage of data is detailed in the notes section of this release. In summary, we cover 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 Northern Ireland and Scotland; and -Providers in Wales that are funded directly for higher education provision by Medr and providers in Wales that return data to HESA about specifically designated courses. This bulletin also includes information from the HESA Aggregate Offshore record which 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.

Census 2021 data on international student population of England and Wales by country of birth, passport held, age, sex and other characteristics.

These datasets are part of the release: The changing picture of long-term international migration, England and Wales: Census 2021. Figures may differ slightly in future releases because of the impact of removing rounding and applying further statistical processes.

Figures are based on geography boundaries as of 1 April 2022.

This release includes comparisons to the folllowing 2011 Census data:

• Students in full-time education
• International students (by Region)
• International students by country of birth
• International students by Top 100 countries of birth

Quality notes can be found here

Quality information about demography and migration can be found here

Quality information about labour market can be found here

Usual resident

A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021 was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

International student

An international student is defined as someone who was a usual resident in England and Wales and meets all the following criteria:

• in-full-time education
• non-UK-born
• non-UK passport holder
• aged 17 years or over upon most recent arrival in the UK
• aged 18 years or over on Census Day.

Country of birth

The country in which a person was born. The following country of birth classifications are used in this dataset:

• Country of birth 12a: Political groupings of countries by EU membership and geographical location for non-EU countries.
• Country of birth 190a: Individual countries. This classification includes geographical groupings for low volume countries.
• Country of birth (3 categories): These categories have been derived from country of birth 12a and include all UK countries in "Europe: United Kingdom", all EU countries in "Europe: EU countries" and all remaining countries including British Overseas territories in "Non-EU countries (including British Overseas)".

More information about country of birth classifications can be found here.

Passports held

The country or countries that a person holds, or is entitled to hold, a passport for. Where a person recorded having more than one passport, they were counted only once, categorised in the following priority order: 1. UK passport, 2. Irish passport, 3. Other passport. The following classifications were created for this dataset for comparability with other international migration releases:

• Passports held (4 categories): High level political groupings of passport held by EU membership and geographical location for non-EU countries.
• Passports held (12 categories): Political groupings of passport held by EU membership and geographical location for non-EU countries.
• Passports held (150 categories): Individual countries for passport held. This classification includes geographical groupings for low volume countries.

More information can be found here

Economic activity status

The economic activity status of a person on Census Day, 21 March 2021. The following classification is used in this dataset:

• Economic activity status classification status_12a

Industry

The industry worked in for those in current employment. The following classification was used for this dataset:

• Industry (current) classification 22a

Student accommodation

Student accommodation breaks down household type by typical households used by students. This includes communal establishments, all student households, households containing a single family, households containing multiple families, living with parents and living alone.

More information can be found here

Second address indicator

The second address indicator is used to define an address (in or out of the UK) a person stays at for more than 30 days per year that is not their place of usual residence. Second addresses typically include: armed forces bases, addresses used by people working away from home, a student’s home address, the address of another parent or guardian, a partner’s address, a holiday home. There are 3 categories in this classification.

Detailed description can be found here

Main language (detailed)

This is used to define a person's first or preferred language. This breaks down the responses given in the write-in option "Other, write in (including British Sign Language)". There are 95 categories in the primary classification.

More details can be found here

Proficiency in English language

Proficiency in English language is used to determine how well a person whose main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales) feels they can speak English. There are a total number of 6 categories in this classification.

More details can be found here

There were approximately ***** million pupils attending schools in the United Kingdom in 2023/24, compared with **** million in the previous year and **** million in 2010/11.

In 2022/23, the Open University, which focuses on remote learning, had approximately 140,215 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 51,810, while the University of Manchester had the second-highest, at 46,860. The UK's oldest university, The University of Oxford, had approximately 27,340 students studying there.

United Kingdom UK: Over-Age Students: Primary: % of Enrollment data was reported at 1.126 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.067 % for 2014. United Kingdom UK: Over-Age Students: Primary: % of Enrollment data is updated yearly, averaging 1.594 % from Dec 1971 (Median) to 2015, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.386 % in 1979 and a record low of 0.000 % in 2003. United Kingdom UK: Over-Age Students: Primary: % of Enrollment data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Education Statistics. Over-age students are the percentage of those enrolled who are older than the official school-age range for primary education.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; ;

This bulletin is the annual first release of HESA student data. It draws upon data from the revised student data collection (delivered by the Data Futures programme) and marks the second year of reporting using the new data model. Once again, a comprehensive quality assessment has been undertaken on the dataset and this is detailed in our accompanying student data quality report. A detailed list of findings is available in the data quality and insights resource, which is also accompanied by provider specific data notes.

The coverage of data is detailed in the notes section of this release. In summary, we cover 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 Northern Ireland and Scotland; and -Providers in Wales that are funded directly for higher education provision by Medr and providers in Wales that return data to HESA about specifically designated courses.

This bulletin also includes information from the HESA Aggregate Offshore record which 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.

Estimates of suicides among higher education students by sex, age group, ethnicity, type of study, and student term time accommodation between the academic years ending 2017 and 2023. Based on mortality records linked to Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student records. These are official statistics in development.

This bulletin is the annual first release of HESA student data. For the first time it draws upon data from the revised student data collection (delivered by the Data Futures programme). A comprehensive quality assessment has been undertaken on the dataset and this is detailed in our accompanying 2022/23 student data quality report. A detailed list of findings is available in the data quality and insights resource, which is also accompanied by provider specific data notes.

The coverage of data is detailed in the notes section of this release. In summary, we cover 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.

This bulletin also includes information from the HESA Aggregate Offshore record which 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.

Experimental Statistics from the Student COVID-19 Insights Survey (SCIS). Includes information on the behaviours, plans, opinions and well-being of higher education students in England in the context of guidance on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Subject time series data

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 second 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. For users wishing to undertake time-series analysis that make use of data drawn exclusively from the HESA Student record (and therefore comparable with the coverage of tables and charts published in previous issues of this bulletin) an option is provided to 'Download source data 051 record only (csv)' underneath each table and chart. Please note that this is the final year this option will be available. HESA do not intend to continue with the production of 051 record only source data. 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.

Earlier higher education student statistics bulletins are available on the HESA website.

Supplementary data referring to students at alternative providers will be published on 29 January 2020.