UK universities recruit record numbers of international students

Admissions officers have also been celebrating record numbers of first-year students coming from disadvantaged areas in the UK, with 22.5% of students from areas with the lowest educational attainment now continuing on into higher education.

The overall proportion of the UK’s 18-year-olds entering higher education will reach 36%, itself a new record. That will also come as a relief to many in higher education, after the bungled efforts to assess entry grades using statistical models to replace exams. In most cases the grades were replaced with school assessments, meaning more students are likely to have met entry requirements.

“Overall demand for higher education has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, and there are currently a record 515,650 students with a confirmed place, up 4% on last year,” Ucas said, noting that the increase followed three years of falling enrolments.

But the figures also show a drop in acceptances from new EU undergraduates, down 2% compared with 2019-20, to just under 30,000.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: “The data clearly tell a very positive story. It was always clear that domestic demand would be up, despite the reduction in 18-year olds, because the alternatives to more education are so poor this year.

“It was also always likely that EU numbers would be down, given the Brexit uncertainties and shenanigans. No one predicted such a big increase in non-EU international students and we have to wait to see if they will all actually arrive and then stay the course.