Market Intelligence Brief: Bangladesh 2024

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with a population of almost 170m in 2021 which is expected to grow to more than 200m by 2050. Alongside the scale of its population, Bangladesh has a remarkably youthful population, with around 36 per cent of the population being under the age of 20. Since gaining independence in 1971, Bangladesh has gone from being one of the world’s poorest nations to reaching lower-middle income status in 2015 and is on track to graduate from the UN’s Least Developed Countries (LDC) list in 2026. The number of Bangladeshi HE students in the UK has surged in recent years, becoming the country's 12th largest source of international students in the 2021/22 academic year.

Bangladesh has made strong progress in expanding access for students and enrolment ratios at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels have increased significantly. However, there remains a concerning number of out-of-school children, particularly at the secondary education level, and demand for high-quality tertiary education far outstrips supply - driving demand for overseas study.

According to UNESCO estimates, almost 53,000 students from Bangladesh travelled abroad to study at the higher education level in 2021. Historically, Malaysia and the US have been the most popular study destinations for outbound students, but the UK has also become a leading destination in recent years. Bangladeshi student numbers more than quadrupled over the three years from 2018/19 to 2021/22, reaching more than 12,000, and visa issuance statistics for 2022 show further strong growth. The UK's position has been boosted by the introduction of the Graduate Route in summer 2021, which has proved very attractive to students from Bangladesh. However, the number of visas issued in the first three quarters of 2023 was below the figure in the same period of 2022, suggesting that this period of growth may have now come to an end.

Postgraduates make up a large majority of Bangladeshi HE students in the UK, with one-year master's degree courses being particularly popular. Business and management is by far the most popular subject area, with more than six times as many students as computing, the next most popular field of study.

The scale of transnational education in Bangladesh is considerably smaller than other South Asian markets, with only a little over 2,000 students following UK courses in the country - more than 80 per cent of whom are studying via distance learning channels rather than in-country partnerships. However, there are tentative signs that TNE activity could increase in the future, including Bangladesh’s recent approval of a branch campus operated by a Malaysian university.

This 29-page report gives an overview of Bangladesh's education system and the wider demographic, economic and political context, with a focus on international education trends in the country - including both student mobility and transnational education. It aims to provide useful information to UK education institutions and other UK stakeholders considering partnerships with counterparts in Bangladesh and to support further cooperation and engagement between the two countries.