Foreign enrolments in UK higher education dipped again in fall 2025
- A November 2025 survey of UK universities finds that nearly two-thirds are reporting declines in foreign postgraduate enrolments for this academic year
- At the same time, both study visa application volumes and visa issuances have been declining over the last two years as well
The early data points to a second year of declining international enrolments in the United Kingdom for 2025/26.
In a November 2025 survey conducted by the British Universities International Liaison Association (BUILA), 42 of the 69 responding universities (61%) reported a decrease in postgraduate commencements for the academic year beginning September 2025. The respondents indicated that foreign enrolments were down -6% year-over-year.
This compares to BUILA's fall 2024 survey, which reported an even steeper decline, with 80% of responding institutions reporting falling international postgraduate numbers and a -20% decrease overall.
BUILA adds of this year's survey that, "The steepest declines were from China, with 80% of universities reporting enrolment drops averaging -17%, and India, where 63% of institutions saw an average fall of -9%."
Additional data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) underscores the importance of that declining trend across UK higher education, and particularly with respect to advanced degree studies. HESA reports that international students accounted for 71% of all full-time postgraduate students in the UK in 2023/24, 16% of full-time undergraduate enrolments, and 25% of higher education enrolments overall for 2023/24.
"Universities across the board continue to operate in a very uncertain environment, seeing their international student numbers fall as recent policy changes take effect," said BUILA Chair Andrew Bird. “Institutions are working hard to recruit students from diverse countries to support the internationalisation agenda and offer broad programmes for both UK and overseas leaners. With global competition intensifying, the Government must act to protect the UK’s reputation as a world-leading study destination while balancing its immigration agenda."
Pointing specifically to the forthcoming international student levy and strengthened compliance requirements, Mr Bird also urged the UK government to "deliver a much-needed period of stability for the sector.”
Visa issuances and applications also down
The latest BUILA survey findings can be set against a backdrop of additional data that all points to a softening of foreign enrolments in the UK over the last two years. HESA data for 2023/24 highlights a -3.5% year-over-year decline in total international enrolments, representing the first such decrease in the last decade.
More recently, rolling data from the UK Home Office paints a picture of declining volumes of student visa applications as well as student visa issuances.
As we see in the following chart, visa application numbers have declined over the last two years. "Sponsored study visa [applications] follow seasonal patterns, peaking in August, ahead of the start of the academic year (with a second smaller peak in December). [The chart] shows that applications from Sponsored study visa main applicants in the year ending November 2025 were 7% higher than the year ending November 2024, but 12% lower than the year ending November 2023."
Similarly, the number of student visas issued by the UK declined sharply between 2022 and 2024. From a high of 623,698 that year, the number of study visa issuances fell to 604,253 in 2023 and again to 418,932 in 2024. Those visa volumes may be stabilising this year as data for the year ending September 2025 (which is the most recent quarterly data release available at this writing) shows that volumes are essentially flat compared to the year ending September 2024.
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