The UK had a fantastic year for international student enrollment in 2020/21. In fact, it surpassed its 2030 international enrollment targets nine years ahead of schedule. The introduction of the Graduate Route, which allows students to stay and work in the UK for two years after graduating, helped the UK’s international education sector grow during the pandemic while other major study destinations experienced massive drops. And student enrollment from emerging markets expanded from 2018 to 2021, which is a positive step towards increased diversification.
But does that mean the international education sector grew in all four countries that comprise the UK? And how do fields of study trends differ within those countries? Today we’re going to answer those questions and more as we take a granular look at the UK’s international education sector.
Key Insights at a Glance
- The number of first-year international students in England grew by 17% in 2020/21 compared to 2018/19.1
- Scotland accounted for 12% of all first-year international students in the UK in 2020/21.
- Wales was the only country in the UK to experience an international enrollment decline over the past three academic years.
- In Northern Ireland, the number of first-year undergraduate students in health, physical and life sciences grew by 1,844% in 2020/21 compared to 2018/19.
First-Year International Students in England
England attracts the most international students within the UK. From 2018 to 2021, England accounted for more than 80% of all first-year undergraduate and postgraduate international students.
As a whole, the region grew by 17% in 2020/21 compared to 2018/19. The top field of study for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in 2020/21 was business and management, followed by arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Over this period, every field of study saw double-digit percentage growth among postgraduate students except for the other studies category, which was up 7%. This field declined by 20% among undergraduate students during this timeframe, England’s only drop.
Math and computer science was the fastest growing field of study for both first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students, up 33% among the former and 108% among the latter.
The UK has accepted more first-year international students into postgraduate studies than undergraduate studies every year for the past five years. See why that gives the UK a competitive advantage for attracting mature students.
First-Year International Students in Scotland
Scotland is the second most popular region in the UK, accounting for 12% of all first-year international students in the UK in 2020/21.
Scotland surpassed 36,700 total first-year international students in 2020/21, a growth of 23% compared to 2018/19. Its first-year postgraduate student population was up 32% over this period, while its undergraduate population grew by 6%.
The top field of study in Scotland for first-year undergraduate students was arts, humanities, and social sciences, followed by health, physical and life sciences. Business and management led the way for the postgraduate level, followed by arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Every field of study grew by at least 15% among first-year postgraduate international students. Math and computer science grew the fastest, up 51% over the three-year period. Arts, humanities, and social sciences was next with a growth of 42%.
Over the same timeframe, business and management grew by 22% among first-year undergraduate students, and math and computer science grew by 10%.
Check out ApplyBoard’s spotlight on what makes Scotland popular for international students.
First-Year International Students in Wales
The third most popular country, Wales accounted for 4% of all first-year international students in the UK in 2020/21. This was down two percentage points since 2018/19, as Wales was the UK’s only country where international student enrollment declined over the three-year period.
With nearly 11,700 first-year students in 2020/21, Wales’s international education sector dropped by 6% compared to 2018/19.
The undergraduate level was the root cause of Wales’s overall decline in first-year student enrollment. The undergraduate cohort fell 31% from 2018/19 to 2020/21, and was the only first-year student cohort to decline across the UK in this timeframe. While first-year postgraduate students in Wales grew by 24%, it was not enough to offset the undergraduate decline.
Math and computer science grew impressively in Wales over the past three academic years. The field nearly tripled at the postgraduate level, increasing from just under 400 first-year students in 2018/19 to nearly 1,145 in 2020/21. And at the undergraduate level, the field of study grew by 26% over the same period.
Arts, humanities, and social sciences was the only other undergraduate field of study to grow, up 29%. At the postgraduate level, every field of study grew except for other studies, which dropped 1% over the three-year period.
Wales has a lower cost of living compared to other parts of the UK. See what else Wales could leverage to attract more international students.
First-Year International Students in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland accounted for 3% of all first-year students in the UK in 2020/21. This was up two percentage points since 2018/19, as the country experienced exponential growth over the three-year period.
Northern Ireland’s first-year international student population more than tripled from 2018/19 to 2020/21, growing from 3,400 students to 10,400.
Much of this growth was sparked by first-year undergraduate students in health, physical and life sciences. This cohort grew by 1,844% since 2018/19.
That’s not a typo: the main story in Northern Ireland has been the explosion of its health, physical and life sciences field of study at the undergraduate level. Northern Ireland went from enrolling just under 300 undergraduate students in this field in 2018/19 to nearly 5,400 in 2020/21. The extraordinary growth led to Northern Ireland being the only region in the UK to have a larger first-year undergraduate population than postgraduate population.
Subjects allied to medicine at Ulster University accounted for 98% of first-year undergraduate students in the health, physical and life sciences field of study in Northern Ireland in 2020/21. India (44% of students), the Philippines (29%), and Nigeria (8%) represented the top three source countries for this cohort. This growth came off the backdrop of Ulster University being recognized as Northern Ireland’s first age-friendly university in May 2019. Becoming more age-friendly directly contributed to its explosive growth, as the university welcomed more than 4,700 mature (25+) first-year undergraduate students in subjects allied to medicine in 2020/21.
We broke down why eliminating age-based barriers could be a crucial next step for destination markets in our deep dive on why Nigeria could be the next major market for international students.
Northern Ireland’s number of first-year international postgraduate students grew strongly as well. The student cohort doubled from 2018/19 to 2020/21, with every field of study growing by 23% or more. Math and computer science had the largest growth among first-year postgraduate students, up 365%, followed by business and management, up 195%. The latter was the top field among first-year postgraduate students in Northern Ireland, accounting for 56% of the student cohort in 2020/21.
Looking Forward
As a whole, the UK is well positioned to continue growing its international education sector in the coming years. But for students and counselors, it’s sometimes easy to forget that four very distinct countries comprise the UK when considering destination markets. England is far and away the most popular choice for students, but Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their unique draws and trends.
A granular look at the UK shows that Northern Ireland boomed in popularity from 2018 to 2021. This lens may help schools and governments in the country pay closer attention to whether its capacity limits can meet this extraordinary demand to continue facilitating growth in the sector. The increased popularity of the health, physical and life sciences field of study in Northern Ireland is also exciting to see given the global need for more health care workers.
Meanwhile, Wales declined over the same period. With the strong American dollar arguably making a study experience in the UK more affordable than ever before, recruitment strategies by institutions in Wales could shift more toward affordability—and be aimed at undergraduate students, the root cohort for the decline in the sector—in order to reverse the downward trend.
Stay tuned to ApplyInsights to see how the UK’s international education sector compares to other major destination markets, as ApplyBoard releases its second annual trends report next week!
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FOOTNOTES:
1. All data courtesy of HESA. Note that this data does not include the following institutions: Falmouth University, University of Worcester, and London South Bank University. Per HESA’s standard rounding methodology, all counts of people have been rounded to the nearest multiple of five. All percentages reflect groups of 23 or more people.
