Government replaces recruitment goal with plan to increase ‘education exports’ to £40bn a year by 2030
Ministers are scrapping target numbers for international students in the UK and will instead focus on encouraging universities to open hubs abroad, as part of a plan to bring British education to people “on their own doorsteps”.
The government’s new international education strategy will set a target of increasing global “education exports” to £40bn a year by 2030, replacing the previous target – set in 2019 – of recruiting 600,000 international students a year to study in the UK.
The Department for Education said it would also bring in “toughened compliance standards” to ensure people coming to the UK to study were genuine students, and that universities would face recruitment caps and licence revocations if they failed to meet those standards.
“This approach removes targets on international student numbers in the UK and shifts the focus towards growing education exports overseas by backing UK providers to expand internationally, build partnerships abroad and deliver UK education in new markets,” the DfE said.
