Recommendation 16

In 2019–20, more than 340,000 overseas students came from 204 countries worldwide (excluding the EU and UK): 35% of those came from China and 14% from India.30 We received written evidence from Universities UK that this income stream may be subject to pressure from wider concerns, with overreliance on certain countries that may leave UK universities vulnerable to competition and concerns about global affairs.31 The Department told us that it was seeking to encourage providers to diversify the range of countries from which they recruit, and has identified five priority markets which it was working to develop: Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and India. It also said that it encourages providers to think about whether there might be broader political or other risks associated with becoming over-dependent on students from a particular country.32