Image: Jaroslaw Kilian, via Getty Images
New Home Office figures reflect “sense of optimism on international student numbers”
Applications for student visas have increased year-on-year for the third consecutive month, prompting hopes that international student recruitment at universities might have turned a corner after having plunged last year.
According to Home Office data published on 13 March, there were 6,500 applications for UK study visas in February 2025, compared with 3,700 in the same month last year—an increase of 76 per cent. Applications in January were up 12 per cent to 28,700, and applications in December were up 15 per cent year-on-year to 35,200.
UK universities currently rely on the income from international students, who pay higher fees than their domestic counterparts, to plug funding gaps in both teaching and research. The recent drop in international students is a key driver behind the financial crisis afflicting the UK’s higher education sector, leading to widespread job cuts and cost-saving measures.
Tide turning?
Overall, the total number of applicants in the year ending February 2025 (413,900) was 12 per cent lower than the year ending February 2024, with large decreases seen shortly after the previous government introduced stricter visa controls in January last year.
But with three consecutive monthly increases, there are hopes that the tide could be turning.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said that on his visits to universities across England and Scotland in recent weeks, he had felt “a sense of optimism on international student numbers, and these new figures reflect that”.
“There is currently a sense that the more positive rhetoric from the current government, the impending international education strategy and the many challenges abroad—in the US, Australia and Canada—have shifted things to a more positive place,” he said.
‘Too early to celebrate’
In recent months, the election of Donald Trump in the US, talk of tighter student visa controls in Australia, and cuts to the number of student visas offered by the Canadian government have raised questions about the attractiveness of those international study destinations.
But Hillman said it is “too early to celebrate”, noting “there have been no actual major policy changes on international students since the Labour government came to office”.
“Universities are still having to obsess daily about their financial positions and their banking covenants, so a clear ministerial statement welcoming the increase in numbers and setting an ambitious new target for the future would be very welcome,” he added.
Dependants down
The new statistics also show there were 20,800 applications from dependants of students in the year ending February 2025, compared with 125,500 the year before—a drop of 83 per cent.
Since January 2024, students have been prevented from bringing dependants, with the exception of those studying postgraduate research courses, or courses with government-funded scholarships.
View this article on Research Professional