An overview of what the HESA Report for 2023/24 shows about students in the UK
Each year, the Higher Education Student Statistics are released in order to give an idea of where students in the UK are studying and in what areas of education the numbers are decreasing or increasing.
Recent results have shown the after-effects of Brexit on EU countries applying for UK universities and also on UK students studying in EU countries. The report also gives an insight into the global decreasing enrolment in UK post-graduate courses.
Where are HE students studying?
Deemed as one of the most important statistics of the report – everyone wants to know which university has the most enrolments each year.
The HESA report shows that the top five providers for student enrolments in the 2023/24 academic year were: University College London, The University of Manchester, The University of Edinburgh, The Manchester Metropolitan University and King's College London.
Part-time study is most popular at the Open University, however, this figure has decreased by 6,910 compared to 2022/23.
Where do Higher Education students come from?
Increasing by 1% since 2022/23, 68% of full-time postgraduate students were from non-EU countries.
Non-EU students had the “lowest proportion” of part-time undergraduate students and in juxtaposition to this, full-time postgraduate students had the highest number of non-EU students.
The highest percentile of HE students in the UK permanently reside in the UK, at 2,168,060 (75%).
Non-EU residents had 656,795 students studying at HE in the UK, accounting for 23%, with only 75,490 (3%) of Higher Education students in the UK that had a permanent address in the EU in 2023/24.
Scotland increase in entrant enrolment
Entrant enrolments from students with a permanent address in Scotland increased by 4% overall in 2023/24. This was the only group among all permanent address categories to see growth compared to the previous year.
The increase of a 12% rise in postgraduate entrants and a 1% increase in undergraduate entrants, helped to boost this growth in Scotland.
Students from the EU… and Brexit
Leaving the EU was always expected to affect the relationship between EU students coming to the UK and vice versa, and now we have the statistics to show how much it has impacted the HE system.
Since the 2021/22 season, “enrolments from students with a permanent address in the EU have declined,” showing a 21% year-on-year decrease. Entrant enrolments have also fallen since 2021/22, dropping by 2% between 2022/23 and 2023/24. The report says, “This drop aligns with the UK’s exit from the EU and a change in international fee policy from 1 August 2021.”
Outside the EU
India has once again sent more students to the UK than any other overseas country and they have done so for the second consecutive year in 2023/24.
In total, students from India and China accounted for “48% of all non-EU international students.”
Cross-border movement in UK
Competition between the UK HE countries is always rivalrous but it is known that England typically comes out on top in terms of having more facilities and larger student numbers residing and moving there.
With the highest number of HE students coming from England, at 1,814,355 students (with a permanent residence in England) in total, 96% of which stay in England, 3% go to Wales, 1% go to Scotland, and less than 1% go to Northern Ireland.
All statistics were gained from the original HESA Report which can be viewed here .
