“Return to growth” in UK as firm acceptances rocket by 31%

London: Following a challenging year for the sector as a policy banning all but postgraduate research international students from bringing their dependants with them to the UK, “we are starting to see shoots of recovery and a return to growth”, according to UniQuest.

The UK-based student engagement, conversion and retention specialist analysed over 40,000 applications, discovering a 31% growth in firm acceptances for January 2025 compared to the previous year.

In particular, acceptances from students hailing from India have increased significantly – up 11% year-on-year as per the most recent figures available – UniQuest exclusively shared with The PIE News. “India typically drives the volume of January starts so growth here is essential for a strong intake,” it noted.

Meanwhile, there was a 91% increase for firm accepts from students from Pakistan year-on-year, “but a smaller volume than India so percentage swings can be stronger”, UniQuest noted.

The programs that open for a January start in the UK are often business and management postgraduate courses, and UniQuest noted that demand from international students is growing “most steeply” in these areas, followed by computing postgraduate programs focusing on AI or data science.

UniQuest’s chief market and partnerships officer Jennifer Parsons noted that the company had picked up on “some late acceleration” for acceptances for September courses “following a challenging year” from the market. Luckily, that increased interest has held – and even grown – for January, she said.

“In particular, there is a resurgence in interest for the traditionally high-recruiting subject areas such as postgraduate-taught business courses, which had taken a real hit in 2024 due to market changes from Nigeria and India where we typically see the most demand,” Parsons added.

Nigeria’s currency has been going through a period of significant instability for the past few months, hampering some prospective international students’ ability to study abroad. And it is thought that the UK’s ban on dependants may be acting as a particular deterrent to studying in the UK for this cohort.

But Parsons suggested that the significant upswing in January acceptances in the UK may be due to instability in other major markets “meaning key markets are once again looking towards the UK”.

Canada has dramatically tightened the number of student visas it is issuing, announcing an initial cap in January 2024 and further restrictions in September.

Meanwhile, the international education sector in Australia is locked into a policy tussle with the Albanese government, with a new visa processing directive showing preference to institutions that stay within 80% of the enrolment restrictions handed to them under the thwarted ESOS Amendment Bill.