International Student Statistics: UK Higher Education in 2024/25

Roughly one in four students at a UK university holds a passport from somewhere else. HESA's 2024/25 release puts hard numbers on that share, alongside the wider international student statistics shaping UK higher education this year. This article stays with the figures HESA actually published for 2024/25, without estimates or rounding for a cleaner headline. What follows covers total enrolment counts, the domicile split between UK, EU, and non-EU students, level of study, qualifications awarded, the UK nations hosting international students, the top sending countries, subject areas with the heaviest international intake, and the universities holding the largest shares.

International Students in UK Higher Education

685,565 number of international students in the UK enrolled across higher education in 2024/25. Against a total student population of 2,863,180, that works out to close to 24%. HESA counts two categories inside that figure. One covers students whose permanent address is in the EU. The other covers everyone domiciled outside it. By 2024/25, the EU category had shrunk to 2% of all students, a consequence of the fee status changes that took effect from August 2021 and pushed EU applicants into the same cost bracket as everyone else from abroad. Non-EU students dominate the international count now, and they cluster at the postgraduate level more than anywhere else.

That three-point slide still leaves a solid non-EU majority among full-time postgraduates. India supplied more students than any other overseas country for the third year running. Its new entrant count fell regardless. China dropped as well, its second annual decline in a row. The growth showed up elsewhere on the list. Nepal and Pakistan both climbed hard year on year, tracking the direction visa demand has taken across those two markets. Different regions of the UK moved in opposite directions. Northern Ireland gained international students, and so did the West Midlands. Wales went the other way and lost 27% of its international intake inside twelve months, the sharpest regional drop HESA recorded.

International Students by Domicile, Level, and Mode of Study in 2024/25

Domicile, in HESA's terms, records where a student lived before the course began: UK, EU, or non-EU. Level of study runs from first degrees up through postgraduate taught and postgraduate research. This section pulls the 2024/25 enrolment figures apart along both lines. The EU category has thinned to 2% of the total student population. Non-EU enrolments hold most of the international weight, and that weight sits heaviest in postgraduate study. Two numbers earn a second look. 65% of full-time postgraduates came from outside the EU in 2024/25, down three points on the year but still a clear majority. First degrees moved against the grain of a shrinking sector: enrolments reached 1,920,660, up from 1,897,635 the previous year. Postgraduate demand and undergraduate demand parted ways in 2024/25, and the headline decline masks that divergence. The table sets out what HESA reports by level.

Higher Education Qualifications Obtained in 2024/25

Enrolment counts tell you who showed up. Qualification counts tell you who finished, and that second number carries its own story about foreign students in UK.

HESA awarded 1,043,665 higher education qualifications in 2024/25, down 1% on the year before. Two figures reveal how much the UK's advanced degrees depend on students from abroad:

• UK students took 54% of all doctorates, so nearly half the UK's newly minted PhDs came from overseas.
• 73% of taught master's degrees went to non-UK students, which means the postgraduate taught tier runs largely on international demand.

First degrees stayed the domestic stronghold. HESA awarded 476,530 of them, with first-class honors attached to 30%. Doctorates and master's degrees lean international, bachelor's degrees lean home-grown, and that split is at the center of the sector's funding maths.

International Student Numbers by UK Nation in 2024/25

Foreign students do not spread evenly across the UK. They concentrate in the largest universities, which pushes England far ahead of the other three nations.

Students domiciled in the UK made up 76% of all enrolments in 2024/25. The non-UK cohort filling the remaining quarter lands in very uneven proportions across the four nations, with England taking the overwhelming share. Its providers accounted for 84.4% of all enrolments from students based overseas.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland split what is left, and the recent movement inside those three ran in opposite directions:

• Northern Ireland was one of only two permanent-address categories to post entrant growth in 2024/25, up 7%.
• Wales moved the other way and shed a large part of its international intake over the same year.

Top Sending Countries (Non-EU and EU) in 2024/25

Two lists are underneath the international headline number, and they behave nothing alike. The non-EU list dwarfs the EU one and keeps shifting as visa policy and currency pressures reshape who applies. The EU list has settled into a much smaller, steadier band since fee status changed in 2021.

• China, India, and Nigeria have all declined since 2022/23.
• Nepal nearly doubled in a single year, up 92%, partly because Australian visa restrictions redirected students toward the UK.
• Pakistan has risen year on year since 2019/20.
• On the EU side, Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy have long held the top ranks

The tables rank the top sending countries for international students studying in the UK, non-EU first, then EU.

Top non-EU sending countries, 2024/25

Among non-EU countries, three of the five biggest senders fell for a second straight year: India's new entrants dropped 12%, China's fell 5%, and Nigeria's dropped 33%. Pakistan broke that pattern, rising 5%. Nepal surged hardest of all, sending 17,385 new entrants, over ten times its 2020/21 total, overtaking the United States to enter the non-EU top five after Australia tightened its own student visa rules. 

Top EU sending countries, 2024/25

EU entrant numbers fell 4% overall in 2024/25, a steadier decline than the sharp post-Brexit drops of earlier years. Ireland holds a clear lead and has held the top EU spot for at least two consecutive years. 

International Students by Subject Area in 2024/25

Business and administrative studies dominate every other subject by a wide margin among international qualifiers. Computing and engineering and technology follow, then social sciences round out the top four. Together, these subjects account for a large share of all non-UK qualifiers in 2024/25.

A few subjects sit at the opposite end. Veterinary sciences, agriculture and related studies, and the social sciences branch of geography all produced only a small number of non-UK qualifiers, each under 2,500 for the year.

Top 20 Universities for International Student Enrollment in 2024/25

International demand doesn't spread evenly across universities in UK for international students. University College London leads the entire sector, with 26,610 international students out of 51,315 total enrolments. That's just over half its student body from outside the UK. BPP University and the University of Hertfordshire follow in second and third place, both drawing a higher proportion of international students than UCL itself. The University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh round out the top five.

Final Thoughts

International students remain a substantial part of UK higher education, contributing 685,565 enrolments and 24% of the total student body in 2024/25. Sending countries have shifted considerably: China and India both declined, while Nepal and Pakistan grew sharply. These patterns move year to year, driven by visa policy, currency shifts, and competing destinations like Australia. Anyone relying on this data for planning should check it against HESA's latest release before acting on it, since a single admissions cycle can meaningfully change the picture.

FAQs