We’ve been crunching some numbers over the past few days and have compiled your one-stop resource for details on international students in the UK. The British Government has been on a major drive recently to recruit international students. Demand for further education in the UK is strong and there is significant growth in student numbers from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Nigeria and the USA. In fact, at most UK universities you can expect the student body to be made up of students from over 100 countries. In this sense the UK university system is truly global and with currently one in ten of the student population coming from overseas, we thought it was time to look at exactly where and what they are studying.
We’ll come to the data in just a moment, but first, where have we got the numbers from? The data is based on international students joining their first UK degree course. To be able to provide useful insight, we’ve split the data into EU and Worldwide data. The data therefore also includes students who have taken part in UK exchange schemes, such as ERASMUS, TEMPUS and LINGUA. All the different types of further education courses have been included in the data collection: foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and vocational courses, including English courses.
The data that we will cover in this article covers 114 UK universities and includes the countries that international students come from, what subjects they study and also where they study. We’ve also been able to calculate the percentage of the student population at each university which comes from overseas.
Where do International Students in the UK come from?
| EU Countries | % | Non-EU Countries (Top 27) | % | |||
| Republic of Ireland | 7175 | 16.6 | China* (People’s Republic of) | 20320 | 31.3 | |
| Greece | 6040 | 14 | Hong Kong | 7155 | 11 | |
| Germany | 5725 | 13.2 | Malaysia | 7125 | 11 | |
| France | 5695 | 13.2 | India* | 3005 | 4.6 | |
| Cyprus | 3330 | 7.7 | Nigeria* | 2750 | 4.2 | |
| Spain | 2395 | 5.5 | United States | 2680 | 4.1 | |
| Sweden | 1960 | 4.5 | Singapore | 2150 | 3.3 | |
| Italy | 1620 | 3.7 | Japan | 1915 | 2.9 | |
| Belgium | 1370 | 3.2 | Pakistan* | 1915 | 2.9 | |
| Finland | 1155 | 2.7 | Norway | 1800 | 2.8 | |
| Portugal | 1095 | 2.5 | Kenya* | 1670 | 2.6 | |
| The Netherlands | 955 | 2.2 | South Korea | 1420 | 2.2 | |
| Poland | 885 | 2 | Sri Lanka* | 1225 | 1.9 | |
| Denmark | 715 | 1.7 | Mauritius | 975 | 1.5 | |
| Austria | 645 | 1.5 | Canada | 890 | 1.4 | |
| Luxembourg | 530 | 1.2 | Zimbabwe* | 855 | 1.3 | |
| Gibraltar | 445 | 1 | Russia* | 830 | 1.3 | |
| Czech Republic | 285 | 0.7 | United Arab Emirates* | 815 | 1.3 | |
| Bulgaria | 235 | 0.5 | Taiwan* | 805 | 1.2 | |
| Hungary | 225 | 0.5 | Thailand* | 685 | 1.1 | |
| Lithuania | 185 | 0.4 | Bangladesh* | 650 | 1 | |
| Slovak Republic | 170 | 0.4 | Saudi Arabia* | 615 | 0.9 | |
| Romania | 125 | 0.3 | Switzerland | 555 | 0.9 | |
| Latvia | 115 | 0.3 | Bahrain | 550 | 0.8 | |
| Estonia | 85 | 0.2 | Ghana* | 545 | 0.8 | |
| Malta | 80 | 0.2 | Brunei | 525 | 0.8 | |
| Slovenia | 45 | 0.1 | Oman* | 495 | 0.8 | |
| 43285 | All non-EU students | 64920 | ||||
| All EU students |
* Students from these non-EU countries and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus require a visa to study in the UK.
What Subjects do UK International Students Study?
| Subject | EU | Non EU | Total |
| Business and administrative studies | 8635 | 21245 | 29880 |
| Engineering and technology | 4970 | 11860 | 16830 |
| Social, economic and political studies | 4280 | 6755 | 11035 |
| Computer science | 2525 | 6810 | 9335 |
| Creative arts and design | 3825 | 4500 | 8325 |
| Legal studies | 1765 | 4525 | 6290 |
| Subjects allied to medicine* | 2925 | 3365 | 6290 |
| Biological sciences | 3160 | 2870 | 6030 |
| Languages | 3150 | 2010 | 5160 |
| Architecture | 1545 | 1890 | 3435 |
| Medicine and dentistry | 775 | 2480 | 3255 |
| Physical sciences | 1350 | 1485 | 2835 |
| Librarianship and information science | 1390 | 1350 | 2740 |
| Mathematical sciences | 605 | 2085 | 2690 |
| Humanities | 1215 | 1095 | 2310 |
| Education | 500 | 520 | 1020 |
| Combined studies | 380 | 365 | 745 |
| Agriculture | 245 | 215 | 460 |
| Veterinary science | 45 | 150 | 195 |
*Subjects allied to medicine include Pharmacy and Nursing.
Where do International Students Study?
| Institution (Top 25) | EU | Institution (Top 25) | Non-EU | |
| students | students | |||
| Ulster | 1420 | Manchester | 2355 | |
| Napier | 1170 | Nottingham | 2130 | |
| University of the Arts, London | 1075 | Middlesex | 2100 | |
| Westminster | 850 | University of the Arts, London | 1965 | |
| Portsmouth | 845 | Imperial College | 1725 | |
| Brighton | 835 | Warwick | 1520 | |
| Coventry | 815 | University College London | 1495 | |
| Edinburgh | 805 | London School of Economics | 1440 | |
| Kingston | 765 | Hertfordshire | 1345 | |
| University College London | 730 | Portsmouth | 1310 | |
| Anglia Ruskin | 710 | Wolverhampton | 1305 | |
| Kent | 705 | Greenwich | 1280 | |
| Manchester | 670 | Northumbria | 1270 | |
| King’s College London | 655 | Sheffield | 1225 | |
| Wolverhampton | 635 | Leeds | 1185 | |
| Middlesex | 615 | Liverpool John Moores | 1160 | |
| Imperial College | 600 | Oxford Brookes | 1110 | |
| Luton | 590 | Queen Mary London | 1105 | |
| Oxford Brookes | 585 | Birmingham | 1065 | |
| Glamorgan | 560 | Cardiff | 1035 | |
| Greenwich | 545 | Leeds Metropolitan | 1015 | |
| East London | 540 | Bradford | 995 | |
| Liverpool John Moores | 535 | King’s College London | 980 | |
| West of England | 530 | East London | 980 | |
| Warwick | 520 | Kent | 980 |
Percentage of International Students by Institution
| Institution | Overseas students % | Institution | Overseas students % | |
| Aberdeen | 12.7 | Liverpool Hope | 6.6 | |
| Abertay Dundee | 11 | Liverpool John Moores | 12.9 | |
| Aberystwyth | 8.4 | London School of Economics | 46.7 | |
| Anglia Ruskin | 16.2 | London South Bank | 17.2 | |
| Aston | 12.6 | Loughborough | 7 | |
| Bangor | 8 | Luton | 24.8 | |
| Bath | 16.9 | Manchester | 15.3 | |
| Bath Spa | 3.5 | Manchester Metropolitan | 6.4 | |
| Birmingham | 9.5 | Middlesex | 21.8 | |
| Bolton | 13.6 | Napier | 23.7 | |
| Bournemouth | 8.4 | Newcastle | 9.9 | |
| Bradford | 20.5 | Northampton | 6.4 | |
| Brighton | 14.9 | Northumbria | 12.5 | |
| Bristol | 11.7 | Nottingham | 16.3 | |
| Brunel | 8.7 | Nottingham Trent | 4.8 | |
| Cambridge | 13.1 | Oxford | 11.4 | |
| Canterbury Christ Church | 4.9 | Oxford Brookes | 18.5 | |
| Cardiff | 9.9 | Paisley | 7.5 | |
| Central England | 10.1 | Plymouth | 7.8 | |
| Central Lancashire | 10.2 | Portsmouth | 15.1 | |
| Chester | 3 | Queen Margaret | 19.8 | |
| Chichester | 3.2 | Queen Mary | 22.9 | |
| City | 24.1 | Queen’s, Belfast | 7.5 | |
| Coventry | 17.1 | Reading | 8.6 | |
| De Montfort | 6.3 | Robert Gordon | 12.7 | |
| Derby | 7.5 | Roehampton | 7.1 | |
| Dundee | 14.5 | Royal Holloway | 23.2 | |
| Durham | 5.5 | Salford | 9.7 | |
| East Anglia | 10.2 | Sheffield | 10.9 | |
| East London | 19.1 | Sheffield Hallam | 5.9 | |
| Edge Hill | 0.6 | SOAS | 27.5 | |
| Edinburgh | 12.1 | Southampton | 10.3 | |
| Essex | 23.9 | Southampton Solent | 8.8 | |
| Exeter | 5.5 | St Andrews | 21.9 | |
| Glamorgan | 13.1 | Staffordshire | 7.5 | |
| Glasgow | 7 | Stirling | 5.4 | |
| Glasgow Caledonian | 4 | Strathclyde | 4.3 | |
| Gloucestershire | 5.6 | Sunderland | 17.1 | |
| Goldsmiths College | 15.5 | Surrey | 19.2 | |
| Greenwich | 19 | Sussex | 12.7 | |
| Heriot-Watt | 18 | Swansea | 8.6 | |
| Hertfordshire | 12.9 | Teesside | 6.3 | |
| Huddersfield | 7.6 | Thames Valley | 20.5 | |
| Hull | 11 | Ulster | 9.7 | |
| Imperial College | 40.6 | University College London | 23.5 | |
| Keele | 8.8 | University of the Arts, London | 35.4 | |
| Kent | 19.1 | UWCN, Newport | 5.7 | |
| King’s College London | 20.3 | UWIC, Cardiff | 6.9 | |
| Kingston | 13.8 | Warwick | 20.8 | |
| Lampeter | 22.8 | West of England | 7.3 | |
| Lancaster | 12.4 | Westminster | 15.1 | |
| Leeds | 7.4 | Winchester | 1.9 | |
| Leeds Metropolitan | 10.3 | Wolverhampton | 18.5 | |
| Leicester | 14 | Worcester | 4.1 | |
| Lincoln | 7.1 | York | 10.9 | |
| Liverpool | 10.7 | York St John | 4.4 |
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