Statistics on international students in the UK

photo of international students chatting outside university
The number of international students in the UK has increased by 22% from pre-COVID levels. We expect this trend to continue. Competition for top universities will become fiercer.

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.

percentage of non-EU international students in the UK

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!



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