Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the proportion of students who are international students in each of the past five years.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students in UK higher education providers (HEPs), including their country of domicile.

Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the proportion of students who are international in UK HE has ranged from 22% in 2020/21, to a peak of 26% in 2022/23. Since this peak, the proportion has decreased year on year, to 24% in 2024/25.

Year on year detailed table available below. Note that data provided is for all UK HE providers. The data source link to the table is: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb273/figure-9.