A new study reveals that Europe is gaining on the UK in terms of appeal for overseas students.
According to research carried out by Studyportals, an online service which helps students from across the world search for the most suitable English-language undergraduate and postgraduate courses, universities in Europe are becoming increasingly popular among foreign students.
This is especially true in countries like Germany and the Netherlands where there has been a significant increase in the number of Undergraduate and Masters’ degree courses which are taught wholly in English. This factor coupled with lower or (sometimes) no tuition fees and good research opportunities has led to an increasing number of students looking away from the UK.
“We know more students than ever are considering studying abroad,” explained Carmen Neghina, head of intelligence at Studyportals. “Therefore, the absolute numbers of students considering the UK is not necessarily declining, but it is showing a smaller rate of increase in comparison to the growth in interest in European countries like Germany or the Netherlands.”
According to the Studyportals data, Germany has approximately only 3 per cent of the same programmes that are on offer in the UK but 17 per cent of the demand. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has around 5 per cent of the same programmes but 10 per cent of the demand.
“If we look at the UK’s global ratio of student interest on our online portals, demand from the EU is down by 20 per cent, and 32 per cent from outside of Europe,” said Neghina. “Other study destinations, including Europe, Canada and Australia are continuing to attract more interest to the detriment of British universities.”
Article published 20th March 2018