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.

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.

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.

This release includes more detail on higher education students than was published in the student statistics bulletin in January 2021.

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.

In the 2022/23 academic year, there were 587,165 enrollments for courses involving business and management studies, making it the most popular subject group in that year. Subjects allied to medicine had 369,455 enrollments, making it the second-most popular course in that year.

This dataset shows the location of Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) institutes in the Great Britain. This should cover Universities and Colleges. Many institutes have more than one campus and where possible this is refelcted in the data so a University may have more than one entry. Postcodes have also been included for instities where possible. This data was collected from various sources connected with HEFE in the UK including JISC and EDINA. This represents the fullest list that the author could compile from various sources. If you spot a missing institution, please contact the author and they will add it to the dataset. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2011-02-01 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

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 first 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.

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.

These data provide information about the participation of certain groups that are under-represented in higher education.

The data includes the percentage of students from state schools or colleges, specified socio-economic classes and low-participation neighbourhoods and provide a breakdown by Higher Education institution.

Included in the table are Young full-time undergraduate entrants and Mature full-time undergraduate entrants.

See interactive maps

Much more data is available from the HESA website.

Related to: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2060

In 2024, there were 752,000 applications for University made in the United Kingdom, of which 565,000 were accepted. Compared with 1994, when there were 405,000 applications, there has been a net increase of approximately 347,000 applications, with applications peaking in the 2022 reporting year.

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

In the 2022/23 academic year, 30 percent of undergraduate students 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 in recent years. In 1988 for example, approximately 8.4 percent of GCSE entries received the highest grade, compared with 22 percent in 2023. 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 25.4 percent in 2023. 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 2024, 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 151,840 students in 2021/22. Among universities that mainly taught on-campus, University College London had the most students enrolled, at 46,830.

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.

Estimates of suicides among higher education students by sex, age and ethnicity. Based on mortality records linked to Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student records, Experimental Statistics.