Chinese students top overseas league table at UK universities

LONDON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Students from China have applied in record numbers for undergraduate courses that will start in September 2022 in the United Kingdom (UK), the country's Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) said on Thursday.

By the UCAS deadline of January 2022, 28,930 applications had been received from China, up 12.1 percent year-on-year.

China remains the third largest market for universities and colleges in the UK, the UCAS said. England, with 416,400 applications, tops the list, followed by Scotland with 44,140 applications.

The UCAS said that a total of 610,720 applications had been made for study in the country's universities this year. The total number of international applications for 2022 entry was 111,410, broadly to the same as in 2021.

The number of applications from India has increased by 11 percent year-on-year to 8,660 and has almost doubled since 2019.

The number of applications from outside the European Union (EU) continues to rise and is currently up five percent year-on-year to 90,590. From EU countries, 20,820 applications had been received, 19 percent less than in 2021.

Clare Marchant, chief executive of the UCAS, said that "As we recover from the COVID pandemic and see the increased opening up of international travel, this year was always going to be pivotal for the international student market."

"Whilst applications have been very resilient throughout the pandemic, the robust demand from China and India, as well as demand from a number of new and emerging global regions, shows the enduring appeal of our world-class universities, with our recent report indicating that nearly nine in ten still view the UK as an attractive place to study," said Marchant.

The UCAS expects the number of international students to increase by two-thirds by 2026.