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Home Office figures show 13 per cent decline in number of student visas issued
The number of UK student visas issued in the 12 months to June 2024 was down 13 per cent on the previous year, with the drop fuelled by a fall in applicants from India and Nigeria, Home Office figures show.
There were 432,225 sponsored study visas granted to main applicants between July 2023 and June 2024, down from 498,068 in the previous year, according to figures published by the Home Office on 22 August. The most recent figure is, however, 61 per cent higher than it was in 2019, the Home Office said.
The fall will deepen financial concern for UK universities, increasingly reliant on income from overseas students, with domestic funding stagnant or in decline.
Country trends
The figures suggest the year-on-year fall has been driven by a significant drop in the number of visas granted to student visa applicants from India and Nigeria.
There were just over 110,000 visas granted to Indian nationals in the year ending June 2024, down from more than 142,500 in the previous year—a fall of 23 per cent.
Nigerian numbers were down even more steeply, with a weak economy in the West African state making overseas study more expensive. The number of visas issued to Nigerian nationals fell 46 per cent in the year to June 2024 compared with the previous 12 months, the data show.
Overall, almost two-thirds of all student visas granted in the year ending June 2024—a total of 270,460—were for master’s level courses. This is down 17 per cent on the year to June 2023, when the number stood at 326,385.
Dependants down
The figures also confirm that the number of dependants accompanying students plummeted in the first six months of 2024, after legislation that prevents most overseas students from bringing family members came into force in January.
In the year ending June 2024, there were 94,253 visas issued to student dependants, 39 per cent fewer than the previous year, but still almost six times higher than the number in 2019.
In the first six months of 2024, the number of sponsored study dependant visas granted fell by 81 per cent compared with the same period in 2023.
Rebuilding reputation
Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, said the figures showed the “international recruitment environment continues to be extremely challenging for our universities”.
“Uncertainty over the UK’s offer to international students, the removal of dependent visas, economic conditions in key markets and increased global competition created something of a perfect storm in the first half of 2024,” he added. “It’s also clear that international students, especially at postgraduate level, are making decisions later and later in the cycle.”
However, he continued, “this means that there is a window of opportunity, and there have been some modest signs of an uptick in recruitment since the election”, noting the Labour government has “moved quickly to reassure international students that they are welcome here in the UK and that the graduate route will be retained”.
“The priority for the coming year has to be to rebuild the UK’s reputation as welcoming destination for international students,” said Arrowsmith. “For that, we need policy stability, and more of the collaborative approach and positive messaging we have seen from the new government.”