英国高等教育中的国际学生

Research Briefing By Paul Bolton.Joe Lewis.Melanie Gover27 June 2025 nterngtiongl students in ukhigher education summary Ororsocs student number?Government policy on interncitionc stucentsTho costs onc boncfits of intornational stuclents to thc Uk. Image Credits sign/irnage cropped. Lic:ensed undercopyright required. Disclaimer The Commons Library does not intend the information in our reseorchFublirations ind briefinigs ta cddress the s[n:ifi: rirr:urstanes af canyparliculur incivicuul. wve hdve published it lo supparL Lhe work o[ MPs. YouGhouilcl not Icly upon it as lcgjol or plotessionol ddvicc, or os substitutc folFirufh ssioral if youl rHcquir spec:ific: cdviz:e: ar infornicticl. Reud tour briefing"for furtharinformation aboutsourcas of Leg cil cdvice dnd holp. Ihis informotion is provided subjcct to thcconditions of the Open Parliament Licence. Feedlback Evcry cffort is mcide to onsuro thot tho infornicitioll colitoined in theso publiclyvoiloble brietings is correct ct th time of pibliccation. Recders shoulc beaware however that briefings are not necessarily updatad to reflestsutisequant rhang ps. If you hove any cormmenls on our brielings pleuse mail. Plcasc notc that cluthors cre nat clways able toengjage in dissussions with members of the public who express opinionsabout the content of our research, although we will caretully consider andcorre:t any factual errars, Yu ci rHaed our feHdback d carplainls polit:y rd our euil.aricil polisy ulIf you hov2 genercl questian about the workof tle Houso of conmons omoil hcenquiriose pcirlicimant.uk. contents Summary4 1Oversea student numbars81.1UK student5 abroad202Government policy on international students229.1International Fducntion Strategy992.2Br2xil262.3Erasmus and the Turing scheine282.4Stu dont alid grciducte visci conditionsLS:2.5Re cent immigration policy chongesEFunding3.1Institutianal income.383.9Student fincrr:e474The costs and benefits of international students to the uk444.1Economictt4.2Non-cconomis8tEtThe experiences of international students in the UK49 summary Overseas student numbers In 2023/24 thoro woro 732,285 oversods stuclents stuiclying ot Uk lhighererduc:itin prviders or 23G af the: total sturdent pppulation. 75,19c af the5Pstudents were from the Eu and 56,795 from outside the EU. 1he totol wasdown 4n: from the 2022/23 reccrc high. This wds the firsL fall since 2012/13.but the 2023/24 figure wo5 still th 5econd highest ever number af overseasstuclonts In 20t'r/18, th numbor of ncw oversocs cntrants to uk univcrsitios was dround254,o00. Increses over the following tive yecrs 5ow their numbers reach crerard af 159,900 in 2099/93, hefore falling ta 198,900 in 2093/24. Th Lop sending coun.ries for overseas entrunls heve changed recenlly. ••••Inclic sont thc most studcnts to the Uk in 2023/24 with 107,5c0 cntrcnts.Ihis was almost nine times the number of entrcints from Inclic in 201//1e.China had sent the most students to the UK for more thon o decade, butnpw eritrnnts hcive feillen in scip rerent yHars arrd whre 98.1o ini2023/24.Ropid incrco scs in1 cntrcints from Nigcrid sinco 2c17/18 havc sccn it movcInrge fall to 34,500.The lalal runber ar Eu antranls inereled gradlually in he lule 2010sbefore fclling slcrply by 53%u in 2021/22 (when funding rule cnd visdrequiremgnts chonged). by us in 2022/23 ond a further 34e in 2023/24. There ore some signs that the foll in international students may have sloweddcwn or ended. The rnurber of studant viss grrnterf incretised txi a newrecord af around 484,000 in 2022 before falling by 5°o in 2023 cnd 14%n in2024. Appliccticns for stucly viscis in Au gjust (traclitionally tho pecalk month)were 1/%: lower in 2024 than in 2023. However, cpplicotions in ecich monthone ypar arlier. In recent years, the uk has been the second most popular glcbol destinotionfor intarnational stuclonts ofter tho us. In 2c1e, it wcis ovcrtalcen by Australioand tempororily tell to third, before returning to second place in 2021 and9099, Other Fnglish-speaking countries, such a15 New 7enlond ond Cantdo,ar al:so sHaing xubst anliul increuxes in twHrwas xludenLs. ux ure EurdpHancountries which dra increcsingly offering ccurses in English. The riew Labaur goverrnient lkis scught. to dislance itself fron what it. hasdescribed as the "mixecl messoging" cf previous governm2nts Dnintornational studonts. In July 2024, tho Educotion Sccrctory, BriclgctPhillipson, soid the government unambiguously welcomed internationaland vralued their contributiron ta universities, crrnmunities, anid thecaunlry. The Labour government is olso oinmitted to recucing net migrctioll.Heconciling objectives towards internotioncl students with broader UKimmigraition policy, including reducing net migrotion, has presentedc:hlleniges to slrcassive gvprnmpnts nd resulted in sre prli:y instahility,as relecled by changes lo inlernalional sludenLs righls lo work, spansarrelcitives nd switch into other visd cotegorics International Education