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.

In 2024, there were ******* applications for University made in the United Kingdom, of which ******* were accepted. Compared with 1994, when there were ******* applications, there has been a net increase of approximately ******* applications, with applications peaking in the 2022 reporting year.

In the 2023/24 academic year, there were ******* enrollments for courses involving business and management studies, making it the most popular subject group in that year. Subjects allied to medicine had ******* enrollments, making it the second-most popular course in that year.

Over the five years through 2025-26, the Universities industry's revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 0.6% to £54.9 billion. The increase in tuition fees to £9,250 in 2017-18 has been an important driver of revenue growth. However, with tuition fees frozen up to 2024-25, inflation and particularly high inflation in the two years through 2023-24 have meant their real value has plummeted. This has also put a strain on profit over the past five years. The cap on undergraduate student numbers in the UK was lifted in 2020-21, leading to a rise in student enrolments, which has helped prop up universities’ income. Universities have struggled in the face of cuts to the level of research funding received from the government and disruption caused by the pandemic. Teaching went online in the final term of 2019-20 and remained there for most of the 2020-21 academic year due to restrictions imposed following the COVID-19 outbreak, pushing down revenue. However, despite fears of a fall in demand, student applications for 2020-21 rose, and higher education UCAS applications for 18-year-olds living in the UK for the 2025-26 academic year hit a record high. Universities are also benefiting from the UK rejoining Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research programme – they’ve been able to access funding since January 2024. However, there are big concerns over ailing international student numbers since they currently prop up university finances and help to subsidise domestic students' places. The introduction of the dependent ban in January 2024 on overseas students bringing family with them on their student visa for taught master's has seen applications from several countries fall. Revenue is still set to grow 1% in 2025-26 as tuition fee rises for the first time since 2017, from £9,250 to £9,535, which is propelling revenue rises despite poor enrolment figures. Over the five years through 2030-31, university revenue is forecast to fall at a compound annual rate of 0.8% to reach £52.8 billion. Strong demand from domestic students will further support revenue growth, but without further tuition fee rises, real income for universities is likely to suffer. The industry will need more funding intervention to prevent closures and budget cuts. Additionally, proposals by the government to make it harder for international students to settle in the UK will disincentivise international applicants, putting a strain on revenue.

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.

There were 296 higher education institutions in the United Kingdom in the 2022/23 academic year, compared with the previous year when there were 288.

The USR consists of records of undergraduate students on courses of one academic year or more; postgraduate students on courses of one academic year or more; academic and related staff holding regular salaried appointments, and finance data for all UK universities.

The University of Cambridge was listed as the best university in the United Kingdom in 2025 with an overall score of 1000, compared with the University of Oxford, which came in second-place with a score of 965.

In the 2023/24 academic year, 29 percent of undergraduates obtaining their degree were awarded a degree with first-class honors, the highest possible grade for UK graduates. Almost half of all students achieved an upper second or 2.1, with 20 percent obtaining a lower second or 2.2, and just four percent of graduates obtained a third, the lowest possible pass grade. The share of UK students graduating with a first-class degree has increased significantly in this time period, while the share of students obtaining a 2.2 has fallen the most in the same time period. GCSE and A-Level grades also on the rise Higher grades for the UK's main qualification for high school students, the general certificate of secondary education (GCSE), have also increased recently. In 1988 for example, approximately 8.4 percent of GCSE entries received the highest grade, compared with 21.8 percent in 2024. This is also the case to a lesser-extent for advanced level GCSE results (A-Levels), with the share of entries being awarded an A or A* increasing from 17.8 percent in 2000 to 27.8 percent in 2024. There is no consensus on if these improvements are due to increased ability, or to grade inflation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, grades in the UK were a lot higher than in other years. This was due to teacher and tutor assessments being giving a higher weighting than normal, with exams being postponed or cancelled completely. The UK's top universities Britain's oldest and most famous universities, Cambridge and Oxford, remained the two highest-ranked universities in the UK in 2025, with the London School of Economics finishing third. According to the ranking, the University of St Andrews was the top university outside the south of England, with Durham University being the highest-ranked university in the north of England. The largest university in terms of enrolled students was the mainly remote focused Open University, which had over 140,000 students in 2022/23. Among universities that mainly taught on-campus, University College London had the most students enrolled, at almost 52,000.

This study is comprised by the data collected for a wider project exploring the historical relationship between higher education and the UK economy. The project sought to provide a long-term explanation of the relationships between funding, widening access and socio-economic aspects of higher education. Three main areas were considered:
-The provision of an in-depth historical account and analysis of the numbers and extent of students and staff for the purposes of evaluating the main characteristics of UK higher education development back the 1920s.
-The provision of an in-depth historical account and evaluation of levels and structures of income and expenditure in higher education
-The interpretation of these data with reference to major socio-economic indicators.

Last update: April 2013 Was added to StatsWales: April 2013 Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Contact: post16ed.stats@wales.gsi.gov.uk The information in this table is taken from Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK available on the HESA web-site at www.hesa.ac.uk/pi. A Guide to Performance Indicators in Higher Education is also available at this web-site. The indicators are designed to provide reliable information on the nature and performance of the higher education sector in the UK. The performance indicators broadly cover access to higher education, non-continuation rates and outcomes. Indicators relate to higher education institutions in the individual countries of the UK. The Performance Indicators Steering Group (PISG) has led the development of these indicators. Members are drawn from the four higher education funding bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DEL); the Department for Education and Skills and other government departments, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, and universities and colleges through their representative bodies (Universities UK and SCOP) Since 2002/03 HESA has published the Performance Indicators on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) who published them previously. A number of changes were introduced for the 2002/03 publication; further details can be found at www.hesa.ac.uk/pi . The access indicators relate to students starting in 2004/05; the indicators of non-continuation (students who do not continue after their first year) and of non-completion (students who drop out and do not resume later or transfer elsewhere) relate to the cohort starting in 2003/04. The disability indicator covers all students, not just entrants, on undergraduate programmes in 2004/05. WIDENING ACCESS: PERCENTAGE OF YOUNG FIRST DEGREE ENTRANTS FROM STATE SCHOOLS OR COLLEGES. School type is taken from previous institution attended. All schools or colleges that are not denoted ‘independent’ are assumed to be state schools. This means that students from sixth-form or further education colleges, for example, are included as being from state schools.

This large, international dataset contains survey responses from N = 12,570 students from 100 universities in 35 countries, collected in 21 languages. We measured anxieties (statistics, mathematics, test, trait, social interaction, performance, creativity, intolerance of uncertainty, and fear of negative evaluation), self-efficacy, persistence, and the cognitive reflection test, and collected demographics, previous mathematics grades, self-reported and official statistics grades, and statistics module details. Data reuse potential is broad, including testing links between anxieties and statistics/mathematics education factors, and examining instruments’ psychometric properties across different languages and contexts. Note that the pre-registration can be found here: https://osf.io/xs5wf

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify schoolchildren and full-time students aged 5 years and over in England and Wales by student accommodation and by age. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Estimates for single year of age between ages 90 and 100+ are less reliable than other ages. Estimation and adjustment at these ages was based on the age range 90+ rather than five-year age bands. Read more about this quality notice.

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. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• 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

Student accommodation type

Combines the living situation of students and school children in full-time education, whether they are living:

• alone
• in a student household
• with parents
• in a communal establishment, split by university and other communal establishment type
• in other household types

It also includes whether these households contain one or multiple families.

This variable is comparable with the student accommodation variable but splits the communal establishment type into “university” and “other” categories.

Age

A person’s age on Census Day, 21 March 2021 in England and Wales. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.

Percentage of students, who entered an A Level or equivalent qualification, going to, or remaining in, an education destination or employment.

The percentage of students progressing to further learning in a school, Further Education or Sixth Form College, Apprenticeship, work based learning provider or Higher Education Institution. To be included in the Measure, young people have to show sustained participation in an education destination in all of the first two terms of the year after they completed KS4 or took A level or equivalent qualifications. The first two terms is defined as October to March.

The statistics are published as "Experimental Statistics" and do not display the National Statistics Logo. They are still being evaluated and remain subject to further testing to determine their reliability and ability to meet customer needs. The figures should be treated with caution as this is the first year for which such data have been produced. As improvements are made to the methodology, data quality will be assessed to establish whether the statistics meet the quality standards for National Statistics.

“x“ means the data has been suppressed as the school or college has fewer than 6 students in a particular denominator, or small numbers for the numerator (1’s and 2’s). Results are not shown because of the risk of an individual student being identified. All totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. Zeros are shown as zeros. See Technical Note from Department of Education for further detail.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations

The information refers to NI domiciled students enrolled at higher education institutions in the UK. The dataset is collected annually and is based on enrolments in higher education institutions in the UK on 1st December each year. The dataset is collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency from higher education institutions throughout the UK and provided to the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland, for analysis. For 2013/14, NI Domiciled enrolments and qualifications at Open University are available. In previous years, these figures were included in NI students studying in England, as the administrative centre of the Open University is located in England. The specification of the HESA Standard Registration Population has changed for 2007/08 enrolments onwards. Writing up and sabbatical students are now excluded from this population where they were previously included in published enrolment data and therefore 2007/08 data onwards cannot be directly compared to previous years.