New student statistics report: "UK ELT's slow but steady recovery could accelerate with the right support"

Post-pandemic recovery accelerated in 2022, with a doubling of student weeks and an "impressive" three-fold rise in numbers, according to our 2023 student statistics report. 

Overall, our member centres recovered 60% of 2019 student weeks and 51% of full-time student numbers last year, with juniors rising to almost 50% of the total.  

Patchy and uneven recovery

But recovery is patchy, even in the private sector where it is concentrated, and the UK is lagging behind key competitors. A sixth of private providers exceeded their 2019 volumes - but a third achieved under half. State sector providers taught a third fewer student weeks than in 2021, and 22% fewer students. It is "crucial", warns the report, that all stakeholders including government continue to work together. 

"We note that the overall pace of recovery in the UK appears to be slightly lagging behind that of key competitors, mostly because its traditional markets in Europe are not recovering strongly enough," writes Patrik Pavlacic, chief intelligence officer of BONARD, our intelligence partner. 

"The uneven recovery and market developments in China and Russia have clear implications for student recruitment strategy-building. In this context, it is prudent for the sector to combine a focus on source markets that are experiencing a swift recovery and those which might not be rebounding as fast, but offer long-term potential for the UK ELT sector… The continued coordination of stakeholders, which include the government, and their targeted marketing efforts in prospective target markets will be crucial in the coming year, and if such coordination is achieved, we firmly believe that the ELT sector will be able to speed up its recovery." 

Pockets of excellent but also worrying news 

Jodie Gray, our chief executive, said: "These are the figures we've been awaiting, answering the crucial question about how the UK is recovering from the pandemic despite immigration changes making it harder for our biggest markets to travel here. Our quarterly statistics had already told us the story is positive overall and that our members' hard work is largely paying off. But there are pockets of excellent and worrying news and the loss of ID card travel means it's hard to see when and whether our major EU markets can fully recover." She added:

"I'm so proud of what our industry has achieved in difficult circumstances. We will continue to support our members' hard work and innovation with marketing drives such as the return of the China Roadshow and StudyWorld London and campaigning for vital tweaks to the immigration system to make UK study easier for junior groups and more attractive for other students." 

This year's student statistics report includes new analysis giving more detail about the market and recovery. It includes a benchmarking of 2022 student volume against pre-pandemic 2019, and the level of recovery achieved by individual providers. A new regional analysis found London was once more the top study destination, with Brighton and Manchester the next two biggest cities.  

Overall, English UK member centres taught 239,576 full and part-time students, compared with 535,049 in 2019.  

Some source markets experiencing a swift recovery

The report identifies source markets experiencing a swift recovery – such as Argentina, Chile and Mexico, and also those which are not rebounding as fast but offer long-term potential for the UK ELT sector. These are Brazil and Colombia as well as European countries where students have become likelier to choose the UK's competitors as their study destination.