UK Higher Education Statistics: State of Higher Education in 2025

How much should the government invest in higher education? Is it a good idea to subsidize medical studies over other programs? Is access to higher education really equitable, or are people from certain backgrounds less likely to pursue a degree? What qualifications are more popular with students than others, and what could it mean for the labor market?

Answering all of these questions, as well as many others, requires data. A lot of data. This is where higher education student statistics comes in. This data helps track everything from the number of students enrolled and the composition of the nation’s student body to the most popular subjects studied.

In the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes annual student data to help answer these questions. The data explores the makeup of the student population, the subjects they study, the awarded degrees, and more.

Let’s dive into the latest dataset provided by the HESA: higher education student statistics for 2023/24. Made public in March 2025, it offers several insights into the current state of the UK higher education system.

Student Stats: Who Are Today’s Students?

First things first. The total number of students enrolled in higher education in UK totaled 2,904,425 in 2023/24, representing a slight decrease compared to the year before (1%). While the decline is by no means large, it breaks away from the persistent upward trends observed since 2014/15. The number kept climbing up every year between at least 2014/15 (earliest data available) and 2022/23.

If we add the further education (FE) providers into the mix, the overall number of students would rise to 3,034,720. Yet, the numbers still show the same break from the upward trend: in 2022/23, the total stood at 3,070,875.

Fewer new students enter the higher education system year-on-year, too. In 2023/24, enrollments decreased by 3%, compared to 2022/23. That is also in stark contrast with previous years: new enrollments were steadily increasing every year between 2015/16 and 2022/23.

Now, who are today’s students? Here are several trends we can glean from the 2023/24 data:

• 57% of higher education students are female, in line with the overall trend that’s been observed since 2016/17.
• New students are typically aged 20 and under, but the age group’s share has declined year-on-year (40% in 2022/23 vs 36% in 2023/24).
• More individuals aged 30 and over seek their first degree (11% in 2022/23 vs 15% in 2023/24).
• The number of students with a diagnosed disability rose by 30,040 year-on-year.
• The share of White students continues to decrease since 2020/21; however, they remain the most prevalent ethnicity (70% in 2023/24).

The decline in the number of students is a worrying trend, and one without a singular root cause. For one, the cost of living crisis and student debt make higher education harder to access for those who can’t afford tuition. In addition to that, recent changes in student visa policies made the UK less attractive for international students. In a post-Brexit UK, these changes also impact EU students.

What About the International Student Body?

Speaking of international students. The total number of students whose permanent address is located outside the UK amounted to 732,285 in 2023/24. Only 75,490 among them arrived from the EU, while the overwhelming majority (656,795) came from non-EU countries.

Each of these three figures represents a decline compared to 2022/23. That said, the share of students from EU countries was decreasing well before 2023/24, dropping every year since 2020/21. This time, the YoY decrease was a sharp 21% drop. For students from non-EU countries, however, the YoY decrease of 7% is the first one since 2016/17.

Among the EU residents, students from Ireland outnumber other nationalities. The overall top five EU countries of origin are:

• Ireland
• France
• Italy
• Germany
• Romania

The top five higher education providers among EU students are:

• University College London (3,375 students)
• The University of Edinburgh (2,575)
• King’s College London (2,340)
• The University of Oxford (2,255)
• Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (2,210)

Among non-EU residents, students from India are the most numerous for the second year in a row. Together with their counterparts from China, they represent a total of 48% of all non-EU international students. The runners-up in the top five non-EU countries of origin are Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States.

The top five higher education providers among non-EU students are:

• University College London (26,885 students)
• BPP University (23,705)
• University of Hertfordshire (18,565)
• The University of Manchester (18,660)
• The University of Edinburgh (17,020)

As for the big picture, the international student body represents only a quarter of all enrolled students. However, 72% of postgraduate full-time students come from abroad. Undergraduate part-time studies are, on the other hand, the least popular among international students. They account for 5% of the overall undergraduate part-time student body.

The decline in the number of international students is relatively easy to explain. The measures introduced to curb migration damage the UK’s attractiveness, especially where post-study work is concerned. Losing international students, however, means less income for higher education institutions and fewer consumers and workers for local communities.

What Are the Most Sought-After Studies?

As is usual for higher education in UK, undergraduate students outnumber their postgraduate counterparts by roughly 2 to 1. In 2023/24, undergraduate students accounted for 70.8% of all students (2,056,520), as opposed to 847,905 postgraduate students.

Year-on-year, the number of undergraduate students pursuing their first degree rose slightly from 1,888,450 to 1,898,790. The number of their counterparts pursuing Master’s degrees, however, decreased by 8% compared to 2022/23, for the first time since at least 2019/20. The decline is even sharper among students from non-EU countries (11%).

But what do students study while working toward their degrees? Here are the top 10 subjects among all students studying in the UK, along with the number of students per subject:

• Business and management (595,620)
• Subjects allied to medicine (365,850)
• Social sciences (279,860)
• Computing (192,140)
• Design, and creative and performing arts (182,370)
• Engineering and technology (179,015)
• Law (144,900)
• Psychology (139,965)
• Education and teaching (119,115)
• Biological and sport sciences (115,205)

Business and management subjects have been growing in popularity every year since at least 2019/20. The same rings true for computing. The rest of the top-10 subjects, however, saw a slight year-on-year decrease in the number of students.

As for entrant enrollments, veterinary sciences saw the sharpest proportional uptick in new students (6%), followed by computing (5%) and medicine (1%). The rest saw a decline, with combined and general studies suffering the sharpest decline (14%), followed by education and training (10%). Language and area studies are also losing popularity, with the decline in the number of newly enrolled students remaining steady since 2014/15.

The composition of the student body by subject and gender reveals a couple of interesting trends. Engineering and technology and computing remain the most male-dominated fields, with 78% and 74% of respective student bodies represented by men.

The opposite is true in other fields, such as veterinary sciences, psychology, subjects allied to medicine, and education and teaching. In these areas, female students account for roughly four-fifths of all students.

What Do Figures Say About Qualifications?

Even though the total number of students is declining for the first time in years, the number of qualifications earned continues its upward trend. In 2023/24, a total of 1,053,060 qualifications were granted. That’s 8% more than in 2022/23.

Undergraduate degrees accounted for a little over half of qualifications (53%) awarded in higher education in the UK. That said, the share of postgraduates among full-time qualifications rose by 4% compared to the previous academic year. In turn, the number of Master’s degrees awarded increased by an impressive 22% year-on-year.

Among those obtaining their first degree, almost half (48%) earned an upper second-class honors qualification. First-class honors is the runner-up category, with 29% of qualifiers obtaining one.

Which areas of study account for the most qualifications awarded in 2023/24? The figures are consistent with the most popular subjects, with the top 10 looking quite similar:

1. Business and management (243,295 qualifications)
2. Subjects allied to medicine (116,515)
3. Social sciences (102,575)
4. Design, and creative and performing arts (67,710)
5. Computing (65,860)
6. Engineering and technology (65,280)
7. Education and teaching (59,795)
8. Law (54,000)
9. Psychology (44,900)
10. Biological and sport sciences (38,045)

The fact that more and more students earn postgraduate qualifications indicates that the labor market is becoming more geared toward high-skilled jobs. The influx of postgraduates also risks making job hunting more competitive for those with graduate degrees or non-graduates.

The 2024 graduate labor market statistics published by the Department of Education help explain the rising demand for postgraduate degrees:

• Postgraduates are slightly more likely to be employed than graduates, with employment rates of 90.0% and 87.6%, respectively.
• They’re also more likely to be employed in high-skilled roles (79.0% vs 67.9% for graduates).
• Both the median nominal (£47,000) and median real (£29,500) salaries for postgraduates are higher than for graduates (£42,000 and £26,500, respectively).

In Closing

If there’s one key insight we can glean from the HESA’s data, it’s that the 2023/24 report marks the first time total student enrollment numbers decline compared to the previous year.

While the decline itself is slight, this reversal of the almost-decade-long upward trend is a canary in the coal mine. The number of student enrollments is expected to continue shrinking due to stricter student visa policies, costlier tuition, and the declining population of 18-year-olds.

In addition to that, higher education institutions should pay special attention to their allure on the international stage. While UK universities and colleges are routinely featured in the rankings of the world’s top 100 institutions, the changes in student visa policies are working against them.

Those changes include the whopping 65% increase in health surcharges and higher overall financial requirements for student visas. The government also recently imposed restrictions on bringing dependents while pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate studies, all while making skilled worker visas hard to qualify for due to salary requirements.

The solution to this conundrum seems quite obvious: make student visas more affordable and easier to obtain. Yet, the current UK government doesn’t seem to be willing to backtrack on these policies.