Universities face further strain as the number of English entrants decreases, amidst government funding cuts and a continued fall in international student numbers.
This follows government efforts to crack down on international students, with a leading think tank warning of the potential harm to struggling UK cities.
This morning, the Department for Education released new higher education statistics for the 2023/24 academic year, revealing a slight year-on-year decrease in entrants (now 838,200) and enrolments (2,000,535). The number of entrants has fallen by 2.5% since 2020/21.
Of the total number of entrants, 78.3% were starting Office for Students-recognised higher education courses, 14.4% were starting apprenticeships, 5.5% were studying for institutional credit and 1.8% started other types of higher-level learning.
The Polimapper data team has visualised the DfE’s figures by local authority in England.
The highest number of higher education entrants were in Birmingham (20,825), Manchester (10,620), Leeds (10,390), and Newham (9,460), while the highest number of apprenticeship entrants were in Birmingham (2,470), Leeds (2,000), Somerset (1,255), and North Yorkshire (1,240).
About this map
The visualisation below shows the number of entrants, qualifiers and enrolments by type of higher education and local authority in England, during the academic year 2023/24.
To explore statistics in your area double click on the map or use the search bar. Click here to launch the full page visualisation.
Geodata context
A new report from the Centre for Cities thinktank highlights the university sector as the largest international exporter in multiple UK cities. The thinktank warns that any government reforms to higher education, including a crackdown of international student intake, may weaken a sector which is already in financial trouble.
Andrew Carter, chief executive at Centre for Cities: “Universities’ are significant economic assets that are distributed across the country, including in places that have relatively little private sector high-skilled employment or international exports.”
“Many universities may be small in national terms, but they are central to their local economies, particularly outside the UK’s strongest cities.”
“But many UK universities are under financial strain, raising questions about their future. Any changes to higher education policy will not be felt evenly across the country.”
“National reforms that weaken the sector risk cutting across the Government’s ambitions for delivering growth everywhere.”