Two male students and a female student are walking together across a bridge in London with St Paul's Cathedral out of focus in the background. They are smiling and chatting as other people are walking around them.

We aim to increase the UK's share of the global market for international student recruitment by marketing the UK as a world-class study destination.

This supports our cultural relations ambitions because educating international students builds trust in, and favourability towards, the UK.

At a UK policy level our work supports the ambitions of the UK International Education Strategy, UK higher education recovery from the twin challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and the UK’s exit from the EU, and responds to opportunities created by changes to the UK’s visa and post-study work regulations, to consolidate, grow and diversify UK international student recruitment.

International students contribute over £18 billion to the UK economy every year, just on fees and accommodation. The UK has a long-standing comparative advantage in providing education to international students based on the importance of English in the global economy and the high quality of courses offer.

Historically, the UK has the second-largest group of international students in the world after the US but the external environment is fiercely competitive and there is a real risk we will be overtaken by other countries in the near future.

Our activities

Marketing campaigns

We promote UK education in more than 65 countries. Our partnership with the GREAT campaign, StudyUK, drives global awareness of UK education and influences students in priority countries to come to the UK to study. The campaign is delivered through a coordinated mix of global, regional and country-specific digital and face-to-face channels. 

Support for education agents and school counsellors

We provide online training and development for key student influencers such as education agents and counsellors, ensuring that the UK higher education sector remains competitively positioned overseas.

Market insights

Our Education Insight Hubs provide timely and relevant insight and analysis to help the UK governments and higher education sector to understand market opportunities for international student recruitment, transnational education (TNE) and other forms of engagement and partnerships overseas.

Scholarships

We support over 1,000 students each year with scholarships to study in the UK, helping to widen access to UK higher education and support economic and social development globally. We work closely with the UK government on scholarship programmes as well as managing awards on behalf of agencies and governments overseas.

See also

External links