Fewer than 5% of Chinese students in UK

The decrease of 5 per cent, the first in more than a decade, could lead to a cooling of demand in China for a British education, experts said.

More than a third of graduates -- 36 per cent -- were given a first-class degree last summer, one percentage point higher than the previous year and up from 16 per cent in 2011 according to the figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency Hesa.

The Office for Students warned of the increase in top degrees and the importance of making sure that students know that their efforts are properly and accurately reflected in their degrees, and in preserving the integrity of our higher-education sector. It said we have to be careful to make sure the results of the pandemic don't cause inflation into the system. The Hesa figures show that the total number of higher education students stood at 2,751, 865, an increase of 9 per cent, compared to the 2020 -- 21 academic year. The number of first-year postgraduate students jumped by 16 per cent, while the number of first-year postgraduate students increased by 8 per cent.

After a period of decline, the number of mature students in the UK had increased, and there was a 13 per cent growth of first-year students from the UK, compared to 4 per cent from other countries.

The number of first-year students in China fell from 104,240 to 99,160 this year, while China still provided far more students than any other country. The number of first-year students in India went up by 27 per cent to 53,000, with growing numbers thought to be attracted to changes to post-study work visas.

Critics say that universities in the UK are too dependent on the lucrative fees paid by Chinese students and that more diversity is needed.

Tom Tugendhat, the MP who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, said it was important that our universities are beginning to diversify international student recruitment instead of relying on one authoritarian country. Julia Pamilih, director of the China Research Group, which was set up by a group of Tory MPs, warned that rising anti-western sentiment in China could be feeding into student numbers.

She said that the downward turn could be due to China having very strict Covid 19 policies that made it hard for students to leave and enter the country.

Jo Johnson, the former universities minister, said that having one in three international students from outside the EU from China is a significant risk to the financial resilience of the UK higher education system and our wider knowledge economy. The growth in international students was welcomed by Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, and said students from China may have been more likely to delay study plans because of Covid.

Andrew Lewer, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for independent education, said he would be surprised if the deteriorating political atmosphere between China and the UK has not had an impact on student numbers. It would be wise for an educational establishment not to over-base its financial security on students and support from China.