International students in the UK
The UK has strong motives to attract international students. And we have mentioned many of these in our complete guide to university in the UK. We recommend that you take a look at it.
After Brexit, the percentage of EU students has dropped significantly.
That is no surprise – working in the UK has become less attractive for EU students and they can no longer access student financing.
However, the proportion of non-EU international students has increased significantly. This is a chart that shows the jump between 2017/2018 and 2021/2022.
It is worth noting that the percentage of international students is much higher at the postgraduate level (around ~50%) than the undergraduate level (~15%).
There are large discrepancies in the number of international students across universities.
These are the top 20 universities in the UK by the percentage of international students / total students.
| Hult International Business School Ltd |
91% |
| AA School of Architecture | 90% |
| Instituto Marangoni Limited | 90% |
| London Film School Limited | 87% |
| London Business School | 78% |
| Regent’s University London Limited | 77% |
| Institute of Art – London Limited | 77% |
| Royal College of Art | 73% |
| The Film Education Training Trust Limited | 70% |
| Le Cordon Bleu Limited | 69% |
| Richmond, The American International University in London |
67% |
| London School of Economics and Political Science |
66% |
| Cambridge Arts and Sciences Limited | 58% |
| Met Film School Limited | 55% |
| Royal College of Music | 54% |
| University of the Arts, London | 54% |
| BPP University | 54% |
| Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine |
53% |
| London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
52% |
| University College London | 52% |
These results are not surprising given the number of postgraduate-focused and specialist universities.
For example, Instituto Marangoni is a leading university in the fashion space. Royal College of Art is famous for obvious reasons.
The London School of Economics, Imperial College and UCL are highly reputable universities across the board.
The large majority of these universities in London, which is not surprising, as the capital of the UK is a very diverse city.
Despite this ranking, international students are likely to be welcomed pretty much anywhere and communities of international students are present across all student unions.
But if you are looking for a truly diverse student experience, look no further than London!