UK: Study visa applications and issuances on the rise in 2025
- Data show that international student demand for UK higher education picked up in December 2024 and January 2025
- Still, 72% of UK universities are expected to operate at a financial deficit in 2025/26 and nearly one in four are cutting staff positions, programmes, and/or budgets
For the first time since October 2023, the number of applications for visas for study in the UK has increased. In January 2025, according to the latest Home Office data, students submitted 28,700 applications for sponsored-study visas, a 13% increase over January 2024.
The increase in applications follows other positive news from the end of last year. As per reporting by University World News, the number of visas issued to international students in December 2024 represented a 169% increase over the previous month and was the biggest month-on-month uptick since July 2022.
The Home Office data also jibes with recent indicators from service providers Enroly and UniQuest. Enroly reported a 27% year-over-year increase in student deposits made on its platform in January 2025 as well as a 14% jump in issuances of acceptance. UniQuest reviewed more than 40,000 applications for the January 2025 intake and found that firm acceptances (i.e., students who said a definite yes to their offers) were up by 31% over 2024.
Applications from dependants continue to fall
Visa applications and issuances fell through most of 2024 as the so-called dependants’ ban went into effect. This ban prohibits most international students from bringing their family with them to the UK. The fall in demand has exacted a steep financial toll on UK universities.
The new data suggests that demand is picking up from students who have chosen to study in the UK regardless of whether they can bring their dependants. While the number of primary applicants for study visas increased in January 2025, the number of applications from dependants dipped to just 2,300. By comparison, 3,400 dependants applied in January 2024, and 17,500 applied in January 2023 (before the ban went into effect).
Financial issues ripple across the UK’s higher education sector
Throughout last year, many UK universities struggled with the effects of the dependants’ ban and the previous government’s signalling that it might restrict the Graduate Route. The Graduate Route allows international student graduates to remain in the UK for 2–3 years after completing their programme. It is credited for having reversed several years of declining international enrolments in the UK when work rights were restricted.
The effect of immigration policy volatility is affecting universities large and small in the country. On 30 January 2025, CEO Today reported the following about some of the UK’s most prestigious higher education institutions.
- Cardiff University, the largest university in Wales, has announced it has plans to cut 10% of its workforce. An estimated 400 full-time positions will be terminated. The university is cutting programmes in critical fields for which it renowned, such as nursing. Cardiff has a funding deficit of £31.2 million and warns that it may go under in four years if the situation doesn’t improve.
- Two other Russell Group institutions, Durham University and Newcastle University, have made public plans to cut 200 and 300 positions, respectively.
The Guardian reported this month that “nearly one in four leading UK universities are slashing staff numbers and cutting budgets, with up to 10,000 redundancies or job losses,” and that the UK’s standing as an education powerhouse is in some jeopardy.
The Office for Students (OfS) expects that 72% of UK universities will operate at a financial deficit in 2025/26, up from 40% in 2023/24, “with some institutions facing cash flow constraints so severe that they may only have enough funds to cover one month’s worth of expenses, including staff salaries.”
What is the solution?
In November 2022, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced a domestic tuition fee increase for the first time in eight years – from £9,250 per year, to £9,535 – to “bring stability to university finances.” But without a sustained rise in international enrolments, this may not be nearly enough. Of the £50 billion of total income across the university sector in 2022/23, for example, over half 52% came from tuition fees – and 43% of those tuition fees were paid by international students.
Speaking to the BBC in November 2024, OfS chairman Sir David Behan said that “radical” change is needed including course closures and university mergers. He said that universities should consider “a transformation of their offer.” Sir Behan advocated a close review of “the length and range of courses, and how to increase degree apprenticeships where tuition fees are covered mainly through the levy on larger employers.” As the BBC notes, “apprentices are paid to work while they study, so students end up with less debt.”
And then there is the issue of international students. As of this writing, the Home Office says it is not considering any changes to the dependants' ban, despite a letter from the House of Lords calling for an exemption for STEM-focused students.
Writing last year in Wonkhe, an online forum for higher education in the UK, Jonathan Simons, partner and head of education at Public First, made the point that the sector should collect more data showing the benefits of international students to the country’s innovation potential and competitiveness:
“Just as the sector has shown that international students support home students, so too could it do more to show how international students support skill development and labour market needs, through for example supporting faculties and research programmes to exist that have wider spillover benefits.”
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