Pulse: How do international audiences feel about the UK (and elsewhere) now?

No news has been good news for international recruitment in the UK. Search interest in UK Masters and PhD opportunities is at its highest for some time (as our Pulse reports continue to monitor) and a lot of that can be chalked up to the relative calm of UK policy since last summer's election (at least when compared to some other destinations).

An updated international education strategy linked to a forthcoming Immigration White Paper may bring some change – with some rumblings of changes to post-study work – but, as things stand, we're in a good situation. It's worth taking stock of that whilst the sun shines; particularly if it helps us with weather-proofing in future.

One thing we have had from the new government is repeated reassurance that the UK welcomes and encourages international students. This is very different from the mood music during most of 2023 and 2024 when every commitment to attracting the 'brightest and best' students felt only a few breaths (or a few home secretaries) away from references to visa abuse and supposedly 'lower value' study.

And the message is getting through.

Based on Pulse data from February, the UK is now ahead of the other 'big four' anglophone destinations when prospective international students are asked to rate how welcoming countries are:

Roughly 75% of audiences rate the UK as welcoming, compared to around 60% for Australia, Canada and the USA.

What's equally important, if you ask me, is that level of uncertainty is also much lower. Around 20% of people are 'unsure' how welcoming the UK is towards international students, vs roughly 25% for the USA and Canada and just over 30% (so, not far off a third) for Australia. It doesn't feel too much of a stretch to suggest this reflects the much more stable policy scenario in the UK – and generally better mood music.

This varies between audiences, as you'd expect:

Here I've picked out the three biggest international audiences, plus a roll-up for Europe (this question has been redesigned as part of our agile approach to Pulse and the February sample size isn't yet big enough to drill down further with confidence).

It's interesting to see Indian students more sceptical than Nigeria and China, and this correlates with some of what we've seen recently in Share of Search, where Indian interest in the UK has taken a little longer to recover. I'd suggest this is down to Indian audiences being more impacted by actual and threatened changes to post-study work over the past year. This is something we saw when the MAC Review was proposed with South Asian students being much more put off by hypothetical Graduate Route changes.

Europe is also an outlier, though perhaps a less surprising one. Here almost 15% of prospective audiences think the UK is actively unwelcoming towards international students. I feel like there's some sort of plausible reason for that.

Chances are 'safe and stable' won't be the tagline for whatever the UK's forthcoming international education strategy ends up being, but it wouldn't be inaccurate based on prospective students' perceptions.

One of our ongoing questions in Pulse looks at the concerns students have about studying abroad. Respondents can pick multiple (which feels fair) and we can segment by destination (which feels useful). Here's what that looks like if I pick out concerns around Safety (simply not feeling safe living and studying in another country) and Politics (uncertainty and instability impacting studies and opportunities):

Again, the UK looks at lot better than major competitors here, particularly when compared to North America. To see political concern so high – and safety concerns highest – for the USA is perhaps predictable right now, given the unpredictable nature of US policy. Political concern being so high for Canada may be more surprising, but the data is from February during the run up to a leadership contest; Canada, like Australia is also making fairly dramatic changes to international recruitment opportunities via visa caps.

Of course, it's not ideal to see that nearly 18% of international students are still concerned about their safety whilst studying abroad in the UK. But that wider context reveals the relative benefits of more stable policy and politics for international higher education at British universities.

For once, universities aren't left trying to explain and reassure students making sense of policy headwinds (cross-winds feels like more of a metaphor for last year, frankly).

We also have really strong evidence to suggest that this more positive outlook corresponds with rising search interest (I mean, here at FAU we literally do have the evidence of this. And, as Jack explained last week, that translates through to applications.

The simplest thing to do, then, is to make sure you stay on top of who these audiences are. We're seeing dynamic growth for certain audiences in Pulse right now (as you can see for yourself) and more granular information is always available on request from our team.

Now is very much the time to be seen in search, and we can help with that. And when those students do make their way through to you, it's a good time to be welcoming and encouraging an lean into that stable status quo.

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