ApplyInsights: UK’s Graduate Route Helps Fuel Record-Breaking Year for International Enrollment

It was a special day for the UK’s international sector last week, when HESA revealed that the UK had already reached its goal of hosting at least 600,000 non-UK students per year by 2030, nine years ahead of schedule.

UK higher education institutions hosted over 605,000 international students in 2020/21, setting a single-year record for international enrollment.¹

Today, we’re looking to answer some questions about this exciting news for the UK education industry. What’s driving this rapid growth? How does the UK compare to other top destination markets? Which countries have been the biggest contributors to this enrollment boom? And where in the UK are students learning? Let’s get into it.

Comparing the UK to Canada and the US

Travel restrictions and an abrupt shift to online learning meant most institutions expected to see a decrease in the number of new international students enrolled in 2020. Contrary to the experience of other popular destination markets during the global pandemic, the UK didn’t see a large decrease in students’ interest. It grew.

To show how unusual this is, let’s take a look at how the growth trajectory of international students in UK has fared versus Canada and the US:

Alongside the news of the UK reaching its 600,000 student target nine years early was the news that the UK has also passed Canada in total international student enrollment—and is quickly making up ground on the US.

The US saw a steady decline in international student enrollment from 2016/17 to 2019/20, catalyzed by scholarship terminations for students from emerging countries and anti-immigration policies from the Trump administration. Canada saw consistent growth over the same time period, no doubt helped by the uncertainty in the US and the popularity of Canada’s Post-Graduate Work Permit Program (PGWPP). Both North American countries experienced a 17% decline last year, while the UK grew by 9%.

As public health restrictions in the UK loosen and news of the Graduate Route visa program spreads, the US’s title as the number one study abroad destination could be seriously threatened by the UK.

The Emergence of the Graduate Route

The Canadian PGWPP and the American Optional Practical Training (OPT) programs have been attracting international students to Canada and the US since their inception.

The difficulty students experience with the OPT program is that their eligibility is tied to employment. In Canada, the PGWPP is much less restrictive, offering international graduates the opportunity to live and work in Canada for the length of their study program, up to a maximum of three years.

The UK’s new Graduate Route (GR) provides students with the freedom to stay in the UK without being sponsored by a company.

The GR is extremely similar to the PGWPP, with two key differences:

1. The GR allows students who have been awarded a university degree to stay in the UK for an additional two years following graduation from a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or three years following a PhD. The length of a PGWPP is dependent on the length of the student’s program.
2. Students who graduate from private UK universities are eligible for the GR. Graduates of most private Canadian colleges are not eligible for PGWPP.

A higher percentage of institutions in the UK are GR-eligible than Canadian institutions are PGWP-eligible in Canada. Add in the fact that shorter program times don’t limit the amount of time GR participants can spend in the UK, and it becomes easier to understand why this pathway would nudge more students towards pursuing a UK-based education.

The GR offers international students the quickest pathway to post-graduate work, with the guarantee of spending at least two years in the UK following graduation. This is music to the ears of prospective international students around the world. Let’s take a closer look at the countries those students are coming from.

Top UK Source Markets

There’s been a lot to get excited about when looking at the trends of international students enrolling at UK universities over the past five years, particularly with respect to markets outside of Europe.

Top Non-European Source Markets

The following interactive graph breaks down the UK’s top six non-European international student markets since 2016/17. Look at them together, check out the trends on a market-by-market basis, or compare their growth across the world’s top study abroad destinations:

The steady growth seen across the UK’s top six non-European markets is particularly exciting when we take into account that each country experienced growth during the middle of a global pandemic. Pakistan (+66%), Nigeria (+64%), and India (+52%) all experienced the highest growth of the last five years in 2020/21.

Looking at the cross-market comparisons, it’s astounding how the UK has seen such positive growth during a period of time that was expected to bring anything but. Both the US and Canada saw declines in nearly every source market, while the UK drew more interest from international students than ever before.

The future is bright for the development of these markets in the UK. As awareness of the GR continues to spread, we expect to see students from more emerging countries divert their attention toward studying in the UK.

Top European Source Markets

Despite Brexit impacting the long-term living plans of European students, the UK continues to receive interest from students across the EU. The following chart highlights the top five European source markets to the UK since 2016/17:

With the exception of Germany, the top European markets have continued to perform post-Brexit.

Italy and France have consistently been the UK’s top two European source markets since 2016/17, sending over 14,000 students per year.

Today, Romania and Spain are the UK’s two fastest-growing European source markets. Romanian enrollment at UK institutions has increased by 55% since 2016/17, while Spanish enrollment rose by 35% over the same period.

Despite the fact that European students are generally no longer considered for domestic tuition fees following Brexit, many universities have continued to offer European students subsidized rates or other financial assistance in an effort to remain attractive to these students.

While the recent spike in enrollments has largely been driven by students outside of the EU, potential financial assistance, the opportunity to live and work in the UK following graduation, as well as the close proximity to home, is something many European students will find enticing. We’ll keep an eye on the growth of these European markets and watch their development over the coming months.

Most Popular UK Universities Among International Students

Let’s take a look at the dispersion of international students across the UK in 2020/21. The map below highlights the top 50 UK universities by first year international student enrollment.

The bigger the circle, the larger the institution’s international student population. Hover over each circle to learn more about the size of each university’s international student population, its growth relative to 2019/20, and where it ranks among other UK universities:

University College London hosted the most international students of any institution in the UK for the third year in a row, welcoming over 23,000 non-UK students in 2020/21. The University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh rounded out the top three.

Several UK universities also made big leaps in international recruitment this year, growing international enrollment at an impressive pace. The following table ranks the international enrollment, as well as the year-over-year growth, of the 100 most popular universities in the UK in 2020/21:

Ulster University posted the highest year-over-year growth of the top 100 UK universities, growing by nearly 70% last year.

Overall, there were 29 universities in the UK that experienced a YOY international enrollment increase of at least 20% in 2020/21. This is encouraging news for the sector as a whole, indicating that international students’ interest in the UK extends far beyond London.

Looking Forward

The forward progress that international recruitment in the UK made during 2020/21 points towards how much of a difference-maker immigration pathways are for international students. For many students, graduating is the foundational step of their journey towards permanent residency and life in a new country.

The GR is one of the clearest pathways available that leads to that end goal. As the UK has reached a 10-year international education goal nine years early, it will be interesting to see how institutions respond to the challenge of meeting this increased international demand.

In the interim, this is exciting news that UK institutions, recruitment partners, and students should feel good about. Here are our recommendations for those looking to capitalize on these trends:

• UK HE Institutions should ingrain the promotion of the GR, and the doors it opens for students, to all prospective international students during the recruitment process.
• Recruitment partners must have a strong understanding of the differences between the OPT, PGWP, and GIR programs, so they can properly advise students on the study abroad destinations that can provide the biggest long-term benefits.
• UK institutions should focus on recruiting from their fastest-growing and emerging markets, specifically establishing trusted partnerships in Pakistan and Nigeria, as well as Romania and Spain within Europe.

Published: February 8, 2022

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data courtesy of HESA, except where noted.

2. Source: UK Visas and Immigration, Register of Student Sponsors, February 3, 2022.