Stock photo of students graduating
(Picture: PA Wire)The number of EU students enrolling at British universities has dropped by more than 50 per cent since Brexit, figures show.
Data released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shows that the amount of students from the EU joining an undergraduate or postgraduate course plummeted from 66,680 in 2020 to 31,000 in 2021.
The decline is most stark at undergraduate level, with just 13,155 EU students enrolling in 2021 for the first year of a degree compared with 37,530 the year before.
HESA said the decline “can be attributed to changes in fees eligibility” following the UK’s exit from the European Union on January 31, 2020.
Fees for European students have increased from just over £9,000 to as high as £38,000 after Brexit.
Figures reveal that there was a sharp decline in students pouring in from Italy, Germany and France.
Ireland had replaced France as the largest source of EU students, with just under 10,000 pupils enrolled in the UK in 2021-22
While EU enrolment plummeted, the number of non-EU students arriving internationally surged by 32 per cent.
China sent more students to the UK than any other country. In 2021-22, 27 per cent of all non-EU students were from China. The number of students from China has increased by 44,475 - or 41 per cent - over the five-year period from 2017 to 2022.
Charley Robinson, the head of global mobility policy at Universities UK, told The Guardian that the figures show “very clearly the impact of the sort of loss of freedom of movement and the change in European students fee status, but also, and critically for undergraduates, the loss of access to student loans”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said a drop in the numbers of EU students was “expected … due to a range of factors” including Brexit.
“EU students remain an important part of our international education strategy ambition of hosting at least 600,000 students a year and generating £35bn in exports for the UK economy, both by 2030,” they added.
