Full-time students aged 16+ in England and Wales by ethnic group and country of birth Census 2021

[Tooting Carmen]

In addition to the NHS, another major source of affluent and middle-class immigrants to the UK is our universities, which are increasingly dependent on the extortionate fees paid by foreign students. In fact, one of the quietly-done liberalising immigration reforms carried out by this Tory government was the abolition of quotas on the number of foreign students permitted into British universities.

Ethnic group

TOTAL NUMBER OF FULL-TIME STUDENTS 3,852,851
White 67.17% 2,587,873
White British 58.74% 2,263,040
White Irish 0.58% 22,308
White Other 11.69% 302,525
Asian 15.96% 614,972
Black 8.23% 316,924
Mixed-race 4.9% 188,919
Other 3.74% 144,163

Country of Birth

TOTAL NUMBER OF FULL-TIME STUDENTS 3,852,851
Europe 85.49% 3,293,817
United Kingdom 76.24% 2,937,292
Irish Republic 0.33% 12,577
Rest of Europe 8.93% 343,948
Africa 4% 154,006
Middle East and Asia 8.59% 331,050
The Americas and the Caribbean 1.69% 65,923
Antarctica and Oceania 0.23% 8,688

[Petalpusher]

Could that be part of the record increase of immigration in the past few years?

"Middle East and Asia" Keeps on giving with labels...but same amount than the rest of Europe interestingly.

[Tooting Carmen]

Could that be part of the record increase of immigration in the past few years?

Indeed it is.

"Middle East and Asia" Keeps on giving...but same amount than the rest of Europe interestingly.

Even though we are no longer allowed to participate in Erasmus, still a good number of other Europeans come here to study. Though by now I am sure they are outnumbered by students from Asia.

[Tooting Carmen]

@Petalpusher: do you have any figures for foreign university students in France?

[Petalpusher]

@Petalpusher: do you have any figures for foreign university students in France?

Best i could find



From political debates it has always been a point of contention, it's still high on worldwide basis especially for non Anglophone country but relatively much less than UK, or even Germany.

[Tooting Carmen]

Best i could find



From political debates it has always been a point of contention, it's still high on worldwide basis especially for non Anglophone country but relatively much less than UK, or even Germany.

The discrepancy between Germany and France is probably mostly due to the former having more courses taught through the medium of English than the latter. Nevertheless, it is still interesting and revealing how France and Canada are the only Romance-language countries in the list. I have said for a long time that a major factor in hindering the global spread and prestige of Spanish and Portuguese is their relatively weak presence in education and science/technology.

[Petalpusher]

The discrepancy between Germany and France is probably mostly due to the former having more courses taught through the medium of English than the latter. Nevertheless, it is still interesting and revealing how France and Canada are the only Romance-language countries in the list. I have said for a long time that a major factor in hindering the global spread and prestige of Spanish and Portuguese is their relatively weak presence in education and science/technology.

It's still running on the 19th/20th century paradigm that English, French and German were the languages of Science, the word Science itself is of Anglo-Normand origin, yet with overwhelmingly latin roots for terminology (of species etc). Probably Japanese comes forth nowadays and we see that in the chart as well.

[Tooting Carmen]

It's still running on the 19th/20th century paradigm that English, French and German were the languages of Science, the word Science itself is of Anglo-Normand origin, yet with overwhelmingly latin roots for terminology (of species etc). Probably Japanese comes forth nowadays and we see that in the chart as well.

Yes, and the same in many ways remains true of international diplomacy and governance too: the WHO, WTO, IOC etc operate mainly through English and French.

[Tooting Carmen]

Btw, here are the figures for Cambridge and Oxford:

Cambridge

Ethnic group

TOTAL NUMBER OF FULL-TIME STUDENTS 32,126
White 66.16% 21,251
White British 44.95% 14,440
White Irish 1.32% 424
White Other 19.88% 6,387
Asian 21.37% 6,865
Black 3.81% 1,224
Mixed-race 5.6% 1,799
Other 3.07% 987

Country of Birth

TOTAL NUMBER OF FULL-TIME STUDENTS 32,126
Europe 75.26% 24,183
United Kingdom 57.2% 18,376
Irish Republic 0.59% 190
Rest of Europe 17.48% 5,617
Africa 2.5% 804
Middle East and Asia 16.38% 5,262
The Americas and the Caribbean 4.85% 1,559
Antarctica and Oceania 1.03% 330

Oxford

Ethnic group

TOTAL NUMBER OF FULL-TIME STUDENTS 36,718
White 71.04% 26,084
White British 53.62% 19,687
White Irish 1.47% 540
White Other 15.95% 5,857
Asian 15.77% 5,791
Black 3.9% 1,433
Mixed-race 6.31% 2,317
Other 2.98% 1,093

Country of Birth

TOTAL NUMBER OF FULL-TIME STUDENTS 36,718
Europe 78.57% 28,851
United Kingdom 65.24% 23,954
Irish Republic 0.4% 147
Rest of Europe 12.94% 4,750
Africa 2.76% 1,012
Middle East and Asia 12.08% 4,437
The Americas and the Caribbean 5.56% 2,042
Antarctica and Oceania 1.02% 374

[Tooting Carmen]

Overseas-domiciled students (which isn't entirely the same as foreign-born necessarily) made up over a fifth of students in 2021-22.

Top ten countries of origin are: China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, United States, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Irish Republic and France.

More detailed stats here:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk...ings/cbp-7976/
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/19-01-20...stics/location
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/31-01-20...nt-data-202122