The UK hosted a total of 758,855 international students during the last academic year – with India, China and Nigeria sending the most students, new data released by HESA today revealed.

It marked a record high for students coming to the UK, beating the previous record set in the 2021/22 academic year, when there were 675,200 international students.

India sent more students to the UK than any other overseas nation in 2022/23, with students from this country representing just over a quarter (26%) of non-EU students. It was the first time since 2018/19 that another country took China’s top spot as the country sending the most overseas students to the UK.

Some 173,190 students from India chose the UK for study opportunities in 2022/23 – a 39% increase compared to the previous year and 145,650 more students than in 2018/19, the data showed.

Meanwhile, China sent 154,260 students (a 2% increase on the previous year), Nigeria 72,355 (a 66% increase) and Pakistan 34,960 in the same year.

Of countries in the EU, France was the biggest sending country, with 10,305 students travelling to the UK. This was followed by Ireland, sending 9,410 students, Italy, sending 9,220, and Spain, sending 8,730.

While the number of non-EU international students in the UK rose between 2021/22 and 2022/23 – going from 555,060 to 663,355 – the number of international students from the EU fell.

Some 95,505 EU students came to the UK in 2022/23, compared to 120,145 the previous year. It was the second year in a row that EU student numbers declined year on year after this cohort reached a peak in 2020/21, with 152, 910 students.

University College London logged the highest number of international students of all UK HE institutions in 2022/23, with 28,120 overseas students. It was followed by BPP University, with 19,205 international students, The University of Manchester, with 18,515, and the University of Hertfordshire, with 17,095.

HESA’s data for the 2022/323 academic year has been published three months later than anticipated, with the organisation blaming the delay on the challenges of bringing in a new data model.

The delay in publishing 2022/23 HESA student data was due to the complexity involved with implementing the new data model

HESA

“The delay in publishing 2022/23 HESA student data was due to the complexity involved with implementing the new data model and data collection systems across the whole UK higher education sector,” it said.

Changes to immigration laws that came in during 2022 – including a sweeping ban on bringing dependents to the UK and an increase in salary thresholds for graduates switching to a skilled visa – have hit the UK’s international education sector hard, resulting in declines in enrolments and applications.

It followed increasingly hostile rhetoric towards international students from the Conservative government, which was in power from 2010 to 2024.

But there are hopes that Keir Starmer’s Labour government, which took power in early July, will look to change this. Education secretary Bridget Phillips has already made clear that international students are “welcome” in the UK, but has also reiterated that Labour will look to “manage migration carefully” during its time in government.