There were 166,310 higher education students from India studying in the UK in 2023/24, the highest of any non-European country in the provided time period.

In 2023/24 there were 9,690 higher education students from Ireland studying in the United Kingdom, making this the most common European Union country of origin in this academic year.

In 2022/23 there were estimated to be over 2.94 million students enrolled in higher education courses in the United Kingdom, which was the highest number of enrolled students during this provided time period. Although the number of students in the UK fell from 2.5 million in 2011/12 to 2.27 by 2014/15, this trend reversed in subsequent years, reaching the peak in the most recent year. Largest UK universities At 151,840 students, the mainly remote, Open University had the largest number of students enrolled among UK-based higher education institutions in 2021/22. University College London had the second-highest number of students at 46,830, followed by the University of Manchester at 46,140. At the UK's two oldest and most prestigious universities, Oxford and Cambridge, there were 27,290, and 22,610 students respectively. The university with the most students in Scotland was the University of Glasgow at 42,980 students, with Wales' being Cardiff University at 33,985 students, and Northern Ireland's Ulster University having 34,550 students. Student Debt in the UK For students that graduated from English universities in 2023, the average student loan debt incurred over the course of their studies was over 44,900 pounds. Although the students graduated with less debt from universities in Wales, Northern Ireland, and especially Scotland, this too has been growing in recent years. The overall outstanding student loan debt in the UK reached over 225.95 billion pounds in 2022/23, with the vast majority from students who studied in England.

Forecast: International Students in Tertiary Education in Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, as a Share of All Students Enrolled in This Field in the UK 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2022, Canada had the greatest amount of international students compared to their entire higher education population with nearly 40 percent of students being international. Australia followed with a share of 31 percent of the students being international, while the United Kingdom ranked third.

Forecast: International Students at Doctoral Level in the UK 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In the academic year 2023/24, there were 331,602 international students from India studying in the United States. International students The majority of international students studying in the United States are originally from India and China, totaling 331,602 students and 277,398 students respectively in the 2023/24 school year. In 2022/23, there were 467,027 international graduate students , which accounted for over one third of the international students in the country. Typically, engineering and math & computer science programs were among the most common fields of study for these students. The United States is home to many world-renowned schools, most notably, the Ivy League Colleges which provide education that is sought after by both foreign and local students. International students and college Foreign students in the United States pay some of the highest fees in the United States, with an average of 24,914 U.S. dollars. American students attending a college in New England paid an average of 14,900 U.S. dollars for tuition alone and there were about 79,751 international students in Massachusetts . Among high-income families, U.S. students paid an average of 34,700 U.S. dollars for college, whereas the average for all U.S. families reached only 28,026 U.S. dollars. Typically, 40 percent of families paid for college tuition through parent income and savings, while 29 percent relied on grants and scholarships.

Presents an overview of all aspects of higher education in the UK. It draws together data on students, staff and institutional finance, applicants via the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS), graduates and graduate destinations, student support, and international comparisons. Source agency: Business, Innovation and Skills Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom

This release replaces the previous annual and quarterly publications Control of Immigration Statistics and the annual British Citizenship, following a public consultation. Each topic now has its own entry, links to these related reports can be found under the "additional links" section. There are a number of different measures that can be used to monitor numbers of people coming to the United Kingdom for study. For those students who are subject to immigration control, administrative information is available on student visas and visa extensions, as well as records of students admitted. The International Passenger Survey (IPS), run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), provides estimates of all students arriving in the UK, with the ONS migration statistics focussing on those who intend to stay for a year or more. Research into students has also been published, for example Migrant Journey Analysis that involved linking records to give a more complete picture as to what happened to a group of students over a five year period. These various statistics and research can appear to give different pictures of student immigration. Often this is because the latest data for different measures cover different time periods. In addition, they also count different aspects of the immigration process, with some showing intentions or permissions, whilst others show actual events.

The United States was the top host destination for international students worldwide. In 2022, around 1,057,200 students were enrolled in higher education in the U.S.. Furthermore, more than 718,000 and 660,000 international students enrolled in the United Kingdom and Canada, respectively.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

As the statistical branch of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Institute for Statistics (UIS) produces cross-nationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture, and communication for more than 200 countries and territories.

The UNESCO Education Statistics dataset includes data from 1970 onwards. From pre-primary school enrolment to tertiary graduation rates, it covers all education levels and addresses key policy issues such as gender parity, teachers and education financing.

Main Topics:

• Out-of-school children
• Entry
• Participation
• Progression
• Completion
• Literacy
• Educational attainment
• International student mobility in tertiary education
• Human resources
• Financial resources
• School resources and teaching conditions (Africa only)
• Adult education (Latin America and the Carribbean only)
• Disparities in teacher's training, deployment, characteristics and working conditions at sub-national level (East and South West Asia only).

Forecast: Tertiary International Student Inflow in the UK 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This statistic illustrates the most common European Union countries of domicile for international students enrolled with higher education providers in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017/18, by number of students. At that time, a total of approximately 14 thousand students enrolled in the United Kingdom (UK) were domiciled in Italy.

In the academic year of 2022/32, more than 154,000 Chinese students were studying in the United Kingdom. The number of Chinese students studying in British higher education institutions increased by more than 80 percent in the last decade. An attractive destination for Chinese students In recent years, the United Kingdom has overtaken the United States as the top choice among the destination countries for Chinese prospective students. The more affordable tuition fees in the country compared to destinations such as the United States and Australia, the shorter duration of the postgraduate programs, and the reputation of British universities as seen in international rankings have all contributed to the high popularity of the United Kingdom among Chinese students and employers. The diversification of international study destinations At the same time, destinations for Chinese students have become more diverse. The high academic and research performance of the United States in many sectors continues to make it a desirable destination for affluent Chinese students. For students from middle-class or less well-off backgrounds, studying in places such as Japan, Germany, and France are more practical options as these countries offer more affordable programs.

The United Kingdom and United States are the most preferred international destinations for Chinese students studying abroad, together accounting for 71 percent of overseas Chinese students. While the share of Chinese students preferring the United States decreased due to stricter visa requirements and the tense relationship between the two countries, the share of Chinese students studying or planning to study in the United Kingdom grew up to 41 percent as of 2022.

Next Steps (also known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE1)) is a major longitudinal cohort study following a nationally representative group of around 16,000 who were in Year 9 attending state and independent schools in England in 2004, a cohort born in 1989-90.

The first seven sweeps of the study were conducted annually (2004-2010) when the study was funded and managed by the Department for Education (DfE). The study mainly focused on the educational and early labour market experiences of young people.

In 2015 Next Steps was restarted, under the management of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the UCL Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The Next Steps Age 25 survey was aimed at increasing the understanding of the lives of young adults growing up today and the transitions out of education and into early adult life.

The Next Steps Age 32 Survey took place between April 2022 and September 2023 and is the ninth sweep of the study. The Age 32 Survey aimed to provide data for research and policy on the lives of this generation of adults in their early 30s. This sweep also collected information on many wider aspects of cohort members' lives including health and wellbeing, politics and social participation, identity and attitudes as well as capturing personality, resilience, working memory and financial literacy.

Next Steps survey data is also linked to the National Pupil Database (NPD), the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), the Individualised Learner Records (ILR) and the Student Loans Company (SLC).

There are now two separate studies that began under the LSYPE programme. The second study, Our Future (LSYPE2) (available at the UK Data Service under GN 2000110), began in 2013 and will track a sample of over 13,000 young people annually from ages 13/14 through to age 20.

Further information about Next Steps may be found on the CLS website.

Secure Access datasets:

Secure Access versions of Next Steps have more restrictive access conditions than Safeguarded versions available under the standard End User Licence (see 'Access' section).

Secure Access versions of the Next Steps include:

• sensitive variables from the questionnaire data for Sweeps 1-9. These are available under Secure Access SN 8656.
  
• National Pupil Database (NPD) linked data at Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5, England. These are available under SN 7104.
• Linked Individualised Learner Records learner and learning aims datasets for academic years 2005 to 2014, England. These are available under SN 8577.
  
• detailed geographic indicators for Sweep 1 and Sweep 8 (2001 Census Boundaries) are available under SN 8189, geographic indicators for Sweep 8 and 9 (2011 Census Boundaries) are available under SN 8190, and geographic indicators for Sweep 9 (2021 Census Boundaries) are available under SN 9337. The Sweep 1 geography file was previously held under SN 7104.
• Linked Health Administrative Datasets (Hospital Episode Statistics) for financial years 1997-2022 held under SN 8681.
• Linked Student Loans Company Records for years 2007-2021 held under SN 8848.

When researchers are approved/accredited to access a Secure Access version of Next Steps, the Safeguarded (EUL) version of the study - Next Steps: Sweeps 1-9, 2004-2023 (SN 5545) - will be automatically provided alongside.

Users are only allowed one of the three Geographical Identifiers Census Boundaries studies: SN 8189 (2001 Census Boundaries), SN 8190 (2011 Census Boundaries), or SN 9337 (2021 Census Boundaries).

International Data Access Network (IDAN)
These data are now available to researchers based outside the UK. Selected UKDS SecureLab/controlled datasets from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) have been made available under the International Data Access Network (IDAN) scheme, via a Safe Room access point at one of the UKDS IDAN partners. Prospective users should read the UKDS SecureLab application guide for non-ONS data for researchers outside of the UK via Safe Room Remote Desktop Access. Further details about the IDAN scheme can be found on the UKDS International Data Access Network webpage and on the IDAN website.

Latest edition information:
For the second edition (January 2025), the Sweep 9 data and documentation have been added.

This statistic illustrates the most common non-European Union countries of domicile for international students enrolled with higher education providers in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017/18, by number of students. At that time, a total of 10,540 students enrolled in the United Kingdom (UK) were domiciled in Nigeria.

In 2023/24, 154,100 study visas for the United Kingdom were issued to students from India, making it by far the most common nationality to be granted study visas in that year. There was also a significant number of study visas granted to students from China, with 109,615 Chinese nationals granted study visas in that year.

In the year ending March 2024 there were approximately 562,403 study visas issued in the UK, compared with 2023 when there were 605,504. There was a noticeable decline in the number of study visas granted between 2019 and 2020, undoubtedly due to travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of April 2024, there were approximately 11,516 tertiary-level students from Indonesia in Australia. In 2012, the Indonesian government started a scholarship program called LPDP to support students accepted into the national and world's top universities. This initiative was taken to give them a chance to have a better quality of education, hence, to improve the quality of Indonesian human resources. Since then, the number of Indonesians studying overseas has increased.