The United Kingdom could be falling off the radar of international students as a prime destination for foreign education. The new rules for international students in the UK could be driving them away to other countries. The most recent data from Enroly Data Insights predicts sharp declines in the number of international students enrolled in the United Kingdom in January 2024 in comparison to 2023.
There is a dramatic fall across various key parameters indicating a slowing down in the admission of international students in UK Universities. The report shares the numbers showing that overall deposit payments are down by 52%, Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) issuance is down by 64% and visa issuance is down by 71% when compared to January 2023.
There are indications in the report that there will also be a large fall in students from the UK’s largest market, India, with deposits down 52% and CAS/visa issued down by 66%.
The large drop in deposit, visa and CAS activity, when compared to the same point in the January 2023 intake, is an acceleration of similar trends observed in the September 2023 intake, where Enroly reported falls in key Nigerian and Indian markets.
Although some universities are running an additional December intake this year, the outlook on overall numbers remains bleak: when the December and January figures are combined, they represent a 49% decrease in deposits and a 60% decrease in CAS issued compared to January 2023.
Given the sharp declines when compared to this point in the intake last year, the report also pointed out that it is worth noting that we are entering the final two to three weeks of peak processing for the coming intake.
A difficult phase for international student recruiting in the UK could lie ahead. Following years of rapid increase, numbers are being influenced by a variety of global causes. These include competition from abroad, with the United States and Australia reporting considerable growth following the removal of pandemic restrictions, as well as changes in visa policies in the United Kingdom.
Two major changes to UK visa rules could be impacting the student intake in UK universities. Firstly, international students will no longer be able to convert from the student path to job routes, such as skilled workers and other sponsored work visas, before the completion of their studies. Second, overseas students would no longer be allowed to bring their relatives unless they were enrolled in postgraduate research programs.