Statistics released by UCAS on July 11th show strong growth in international students. The data, which covers applicants to undergraduate courses as of the June deadline, shows that non-EU applicants were up by 7.9 per cent compared to the same period last year while applicants from EU countries were up by 1.0 per cent.  The strong international growth outweighed a 1.1 per cent drop in UK applicants and meant that the total number of applicants to UK universities saw a net increase, illustrating the value of international students to the UK HE sector.

Highlights from major markets include:

• China saw very strong growth, with applicants increasing by 30 per cent. This represents a little over three quarters of net growth among non-EU students, and well over 100% of total net growth – in other words, if it wasn’t for Chinese students then UK universities would have seen a decline in undergraduate applicants rather than growth.
• India and Pakistan saw an increase in applicant numbers, but growth was much weaker than last year – applicant numbers grew by 5 and 3 per cent respectively, compared to 23 and 11 per cent in the same period of the 2018 cycle..
• The number of applicants from Hong Kong fell by 6 per cent compared to last year. This is likely a result of demographic factors, as Hong Kong's student-age population is declining.
• Nigeria saw a return to strong growth, increasing by 9 per cent after several years of decline.
• Trends in EU markets were very variable - for example, applicants from France grew by 4 per cent but those from Germany fell by 7 per cent.

The tables below show trends from the top 20 EU and non-EU markets. Growth rates and change in growth are coloured dark green for increases of 10 per cent or more, light green for increases of at least 1 per cent, white if the figure changed by less than 1 per cent, light orange for decreases of at least 1 per cent, and dark orange if applicant figures fell by 10 per cent or more.

Top 20 Non-EU Markets

Top 20 EU Markets

(Changes are rounded to the nearest one per cent but are coloured based on their actual value)

When interpreting this data, it is important to bear in mind a few caveats:

• The data only refers to undergraduate courses, whereas a large proportion of international students in the UK are studying postgraduate programme
• The data only covers students applying through UCAS - most importantly this excludes students transferring to a UK university part-way through the course, who make up a relatively large share of mobility from some countries
• The June deadline data refers only to applicants, not all of whom will be offered or accept a place on a UK degree course 
• The data also excludes students who apply after the deadline and go straight into the Clearing system, although these only account for a small proportion of the total – last year’s June statistics covered 93% of non-EU applicants and 95% of EU (non-UK) applicants.

Aside from country-by-country changes, other trends include:

• Applications by subject (non-EU): Business & administrative studies saw the largest net growth, but its percentage growth rate was slightly below average compared to other subject areas. The next three subjects by net growth were social studies, computer science and biological sciences. In contrast, engineering saw much weaker growth of only 1 per cent.
• Applications by subject (EU): Business & administrative studies saw a slight decline in applications but is still the leading subject area by a substantial margin. The top 3 subjects by net growth were computer science, biological sciences and interdisciplinary courses. 
• Applications by selectivity of institution: The ongoing trend of non-EU students preferring more selective institutions appears to be continuing. Institutions categorised by UCAS as "higher-tariff" (based on the average entry qualifications of UK students) now account for 64 per cent of non-EU applications, compared to 62 per cent last year and 58 per cent in 2014. EU students are also more likely than those from the UK to apply to higher-tariff institutions but this is not seeing the same rate of increase; these institutions accounted for 50 per cent of EU applications which is unchanged from last year and only slightly higher than their 47 per cent share in 2014.

Full data on June deadline applicant statistics can be found on the UCAS website