New analysis measures the impact of international students for each UK community and resident

An updated analysis on the economic impact of international students in the UK provides some impressive headline figures:

• The 685,565 foreign students in UK higher education in 2024/25 accounted for nearly a quarter of the total system enrolment that year;
• The total net economic impact of the 2024/25 cohort alone was estimated at £40.4 billion across the duration of their studies;
• The net economic impact estimates equate to £100,000 per international student, or £1 million in net economic benefit for the UK economy for every ten students over the duration of their studies;
• Student commencements have declined by -12% from a peak in 2022/23, at a cost to the UK economy of £2.9 billion;
• The net economic impact from the 2024/25 cohort equates to an average of £580 per UK resident per year.

Those key findings come from a recently released report from London Economics. Published in July 2026, The benefits and costs of international higher education students to the UK economy was commissioned by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), and Kaplan International Pathways.

This type of impact analysis is not new, but it is an important part of the evidence for international education's impact on institutions and national economies. At a time when there is rising public concern around immigration levels in many key study destinations, this type of analysis is crucial to the discussion.

"Immigration is a top concern for voters in Britain, and it is important that the debate around immigration policy is informed by evidence," says HEPI Director of Policy and Strategy Rose Stephenson. "This report shows that international students generate very substantial benefits for the UK economy and underpin the financial sustainability of many universities. If ministers decide to further reduce international student numbers, they should be clear that there will be economic costs as well as potential political benefits. At a time when the UK is seeking stronger economic growth, those trade-offs deserve an honest and open discussion."

There is a growing awareness across the sector, however, that those national impact figures may not affect public opinion in a meaningful way. The benefits arising from international enrolments can be unevenly distributed from community to community, and the linkages between international students, the financial health of institutions, and broader issues of innovation and productivity in the economy are not often well understood.

Writing about a recent roundtable of higher education leaders, IDP Director of Partnerships Rachel MacSween and Woke Editor Debbie McVitty observed, "Attendees agreed that the abstract economic returns argument has hit a ceiling, and simply doesn’t resonate with the key groups of voters that regional policymakers need to keep onside. Others – particularly those from parties intrinsically hostile to immigration in general – may see the numbers but simply care more about other political pressures and perceived risks."

Trying something different

This brings us to the most interesting aspect of the London Economics report this year. As the authors explain: "For the first time, the analysis uses newly available detailed data on students’ term-time addresses, providing a more accurate picture of the local economic contribution made by international students across the UK. The findings show that these benefits are spread across all nations and regions of the UK."

The analysis moves beyond the national-level figures we summarised above to provide a more detailed view of how that impact is distributed throughout the UK, region by region and parliamentary constituency by constituency.

An accompanying interactive dashboard allows users to examine the impacts for each parliamentary constituency in the UK, such as we see in the example below.

The report finds that the impact of foreign enrolments is distributed throughout the UK economy, with "constituencies from nine regions featuring in the top 20 in terms of total UK impact, and constituencies from all regions featuring in the top 40."

Even as illustrated in the table of top ten constituencies above, the impact varies widely by community, with the net national average benefit, per resident, estimated at £580.

There is something powerful in this model, as it brings that national impact down to the level of the individual community and even individual resident. The report is transparent about how those benefits are distributed. But it also makes clear that there is an impact in every part of the economy arising from international students, and that that impact can be quantified for each household.

Stepping back from this particular example in the UK, there are important lessons in this for every study destination in terms of how that more granular analysis could be employed to demonstrate the concrete, local impacts of international students. The London Economics report feels like an important evolution in the evidence base we have, and one that could make a meaningful contribution to building the social license for international education at the community level and therefore meaningfully affecting policy-making as well.

For additional background, please see:

• "Australia poised to further restrict immigration in bid to drive down net migration figures"
• "The power of data and narrative in building public support for international students"
• "Under pressure: How global migration and economic trends are impacting international education"