It's all academic

With October now upon us the new academic year is well underway and this month I thought I would focus on the inbound study market.

Not all those from abroad who come to the UK to study will be classified as a tourist, that all depends on how long they are here for. There are at least three broad categories of inbound study that we can identify, the first of which definitely qualifies as tourism, as it is school or youth groups visiting for just a few days, with such groups more often than not originating from one of our European neighbours.

This inbound study market has faced very significant headwinds in recent years, not just due to the pandemic, but as a result of changed border arrangements now that the UK has left the EU. With the exception of school visits from France it is now a requirement that all those within the group have a passport, with national identity cards no longer being accepted.

For the moment at least there is a special arrangement with France that allows a group of five or more under 18s to be brought on a school trip to the UK even if the youngsters do not have a passport, with a national identity card being an acceptable alternative.

Most Europeans live in the Schengen area, so are able to cross borders within the bloc with little or no formality, meaning that children often have no need for a passport unless they are heading long-haul. The need for a passport to enter the UK regardless of age for markets other than France is an often-insurmountable barrier that deters inbound school trips to Britain.

This market will face yet more difficulties from April next year as those visiting the UK from abroad who do not need a visa to enter will be required to apply for (at a cost of ￡10) an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

As the ETA application requires the applicant to have a valid passport to which the ETA is linked this may scupper the current arrangement for school groups from France.

The second of our three broad study markets is English Language Teaching (ELT). A useful source of data on this market comes from English UK with figures from the body’s 320 members indicating that in 2023 360,517 English language students were taught, with 95% of these students attending full-time courses.

On a like-for-like basis in terms of English UK members the 2023 figure for student numbers is 24% lower than had been the case back in 2019, underscoring that while inbound segments such as holiday tourism had returned to within spitting distance of pre-pandemic tallies last year, this was certainly not the case across all forms of inbound tourism.

Students from the EU accounted for 59% of all those attending English language courses last year but just 36% of student weeks.

Separate data from BONARD reveals that the UK still accounts for the largest number of ELT students, but in 2023 it was Australia that held the mantle for the greatest number of ELT student weeks. Indeed, the number of ELT student weeks was higher in 2023 than in 2019 in Australia, Ireland and Malta, whereas in the UK it was down 37%.

The final category we will look at covers overseas students attending UK universities.

Even though a university student who up sticks from a far-flung part of the globe to enrol in a three-year course in Britain might not be a tourist, they do represent an export earning for the UK economy. What’s more, it is highly likely that their presence in the country will attract inbound VFR traffic, whether family members attending graduation ceremonies or friends wanting to see first-hand where their pal is now living and studying.

Data from HESA indicates that the number of enrolments at UK Higher Education establishments by non-UK students has been increasing in recent years, with more than 7580,000 in the academic year 2022/23, representing a 62% increase on five years earlier.

There has been a considerable shift in where non-UK enrolments are from, with a 33% decline in the past five years from students whose permanent address is in the EU, but a doubling in the numbers coming from non-EU nations.

It’s interesting to note that in 2022/23 India overtook China as the leading market for HE enrolments by non-UK students, with in excess of 173,000.

Although covering a broad slew of types of study another source worth taking a look at is the number of study visas being issued by the Home Office, as this provides data up to June of this year. This series peaked at almost 624,000 in calendar year 2022, but in the twelve months to June 2024 the number of study visas issued had fallen back to 530,000.

A trend that was clearly taken note of by Home Office officials was that consistently from 2005 until 2020 the proportion of study visas being issued that were for dependants of the main applicant stood at about 8%, but thereafter surged, reaching 24% of all study visas being issued.

Changes, including higher application fees and healthcare surcharge, has seen the proportion of all study visas issued in the year ending June 2024 decline to 18%.

Foreign students are a vital source of revenue for universities, many of which are facing challenging financial circumstances. It will be interesting to see figures for how many non-UK students are enrolling in the new academic year, as a downward trajectory could have serious consequences for many establishments.

Whether it is a couple of days on a school fieldtrip, a fortnight studying English, or a three-year university course, there is one thing in common across these different types of study visit; they introduce someone from overseas to Britain, creating a deeper appreciation of our cities, countryside, culture and sport, fostering lifelong friendships, and potentially encouraging the entrepreneurs and wealth-creators of tomorrow to see this as somewhere they would wish to call home.

There is a risk that other destinations will increasingly be seen as less burdensome and less costly for an international study trip than is Britain, an outcome that will do little to bolster that sought-after economic growth.