A large increase in Chinese students saw the number of non-European foreigners starting courses at British universities jump by 10 per cent last year, boosting revenues at institutions seeking to mitigate growing financial pressures.
Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, a government body, showed a 2 per cent rise to 2.4m students studying in higher education in 2018-19 compared with 2017-18. This included a 10 per cent rise in “international” students, who pay full fees, to 343,000 and a 2 per cent increase in non-UK European students, who are counted separately because they pay the same rates as English students.
The international figure included a 13 per cent increase in Chinese students to more than 120,000 — more than a third of all non-EU students and up by 35 per cent over the previous five years. The number of Indians rose to almost 27,000.