Universities across the United Kingdom are experiencing a decrease in the number of students coming from EU countries. This situation can partly be explained by the high UK student visa fees as well as the increase in tuition fees. 

According to data by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), more than 1,000 Polish and Romanian undergraduate students have joined UK universities during 2021, which is a decrease of 6,000 compared to the previous year. 

Data provided by Erudera.com reveal a 70 per cent decrease in the number of undergraduate applications from students from several Central and Eastern European countries in 2021. 

However, UK universities continue to enrol numerous EU students, mainly from France, Germany, and Spain, with some 10,000 visas being approved for students coming from these countries. These figures can be compared with those from Hungary (214), Bulgaria (185) and the Czech Republic (177). 

Since Brexit, EU students are required to pay similar visa fees as the extra-European ones. This situation limits the opportunities for less wealthy students from the former Communist block to try their chance in a British university. 

According to University of East Anglia’s Vice-Chancellor David Richardson,  the number of EU students in the UK dropped by 50 per cent last year.

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

Cover photo: Unsplash