Insight: Who studies at Scotland's universities?

Total enrolments for undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Scottish universities had been steadily increasing before the Covid pandemic, rising from 232,570 in 2014/15 to 253,485 in 2018/19. The figure then reached a peak of 301,230 in 2021/22 before shrinking slightly the following year.

The number of enrolments for Scotland-registered students has also increased over the course of the past decade. In 2014/15, the figure stood at 153,915, but by 2022/23 this had risen to 173,745 – an increase of around 13%. The figures were even higher in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 as a result of pandemic-era support, but have now fallen back roughly in line with the existing pre-COVID trends.

Enrolments for students from outwith Scotland have gone up as well, both in terms of those coming from the rest of the UK (rUK) and those coming from overseas. For students registered in rUK, the number of enrolments has risen from 28,630 to 33,805 – this represents an increase of around 18%, which is slightly higher than the corresponding increase for students registered in Scotland.

The largest increase, however, is found when looking at the enrolment data for students from outside of the UK. For this group, numbers have increased from 50,010 and 2014/15 to 83,970 in 2022/23, which represents a jump of nearly 70% in less than a decade.

Looking more closely at the data for non-UK students reveals another shift in recent years. The number of enrolments for EU students had remained relatively stable at a little over 20,000 per year, but from 2020 this figure began to decline and, last year, stood at just 13,130. In contrast, the number of enrolments for non-EU students had been gradually increasing since 2014/15, but this expansion rapidly accelerated in recent years and the figure has now more than doubled to 70,840 in 2022/23.

Share of enrolments by student home country

Shifting overall entry levels also mean that the proportion of enrolments for students registered from Scotland, rUK and outwith the UK has been altered. At the beginning of this period, students from Scotland accounted for two-thirds of all university enrolments, while just over one tenth were for those from rUK and just over one fifth were for students from outwith the UK. Although the share of enrolments for rUK students has not changed in recent years, those from non-UK countries represented closer to one-third of overall enrolments in 2022/23.

But these are only national averages, and a breakdown for each of Scotland’s universities reveals enormous differences between institutions.

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Find articles – Scottish universities: funding, fees and the future

In 2022/23, a total of four Scottish universities reported that less than half of enrolments were for students registered in Scotland: Edinburgh (29%), Glasgow School of Art (46%), Heriot-Watt (49%), and St. Andrews (27%). The University of Glasgow, with 50 percent of students from Scotland, would have joined the list had figures not been rounded to the nearest whole number. Other than the Open University, the institutions with the highest proportion of enrolments for Scotland-based students were Abertay (81%), SRUC (91%), and University of the Highlands and Islands (93%).

In most universities, the proportion of total enrolments by students from Scotland has declined in the past five years, with the largest shifts found at Glasgow Caledonian University (down fourteen percentage points) and the University of the West of Scotland (down nineteen percentage points).

Proportion of fee income by student home country

Having examined the breakdown of enrolments by home country, we can also compare this data to breakdowns of fee income from Scottish, rUK, and non-UK students.

At a national level, foreign students make up just under one third of enrolments, but account for more than 70% of the fee income received by universities. When all students from outwith Scotland are considered, they make up 41% of enrolments and 85% of fee income across the entire sector.

For the vast majority of institutions, students from outwith Scotland contribute the vast majority of total fee income. Only three universities for which 2022/23 data is available buck this trend: Abertay (46%), UHI (23%) and SRUC (13%). The universities with the highest financial dependence upon non-Scottish students are Glasgow School of Art (89%), Glasgow (89%), Edinburgh (94%) and St. Andrews (95%).

Students from outwith Scotland are therefore of huge importance to the country's university sector - so much so that they even subsidise the places of homegrown students.

Enrolment of Scottish students by deprivation levels

One of the key considerations when examining university entrance data is the relative deprivation levels of successful applicants. In Scotland, this is measured using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivations (SIMD), which breaks up the entire country into small, local data zones that can be categorised as being either more or less deprived areas. Under this system, SIMD1 areas are considered to be the most deprived 20% in the country, while SIMD5 areas are those calculated to be the most affluent 20%.

In 2022/23, official data shows that 29% of university enrolments were for students from the most affluent parts of Scotland, while just 15% represent those from the most deprived areas of the country.

Over the past five years the proportion of total enrolments for students from each SIMD grouping has remained relatively - and, for many, disappointingly - stable, with only a small increase (two percentage points) for those from the poorest backgrounds.

Degree awards

Breaking down enrolment data in different ways provides a range of insights into Scottish universities, but official publications also makes it possible to understand the performance of students during their studies. One way to achieve this is by looking at undergraduate degree award data.

In 2022/23, a total of 8,835 First class honours degrees were awarded by Scottish universities, representing 32% of all awards in that year. This is slightly higher than the figures for Wales (30%), England (29%) and Northern Ireland (29%).

In addition to this, 505 of degrees in Scottish universities were awarded as an Upper second class honours, while 16% were Lower second class honours. Just two percent of degrees were awarded at Third class honours level.

These numbers have varied considerably in recent years, with First class honours awards currently higher than pre-pandemic levels, but lower than the peak levels seen during the COVID era.

In 2018/19, just 28% of undergraduate degrees in Scottish universities were awarded as First class honours, and this figure climbed as high as 37% in 2020/21. During the pandemic, universities made a number of adjustments to assessment and examination policies, and these altered approaches seem to have improve outcomes for students.

What about students leaving Scotland?

While the vast majority of Scottish students attend Scottish universities, ever year some travel further afield for their studies.

In 2022/23, there were more than 10,000 enrolments in English universities for students registered from Scotland, with much smaller numbers also recorded in Wales (410) and Northern Ireland (235).

Data broken down by institutions allows us to determine the most popular rUK universities for Scottish students.

At undergraduate level, Newcastle University tops the list with 310 enrolments, with Oxford a close second on 280. Harper Adams (190), Durham (185) and both Cambridge and Exeter (with each on 170) make up the rest of the top five.

For postgraduate study, Manchester is the most popular university for students registered in Scotland with a total of 190 enrolments in 2022/23. Other popular options include University College London (185), King’s College London (175) and Oxford (155).

Is this the whole story?

Frustratingly, no.

HESA data is extremely robust and reliable, but it is also time-lagged, which is why the most recent figures only go up to 2022/23. This is particularly relevant when considering the impact of foreign student fees, because experts from the sector say that these figures spiked a couple of years ago and they expect to see significant declines when more recent data becomes available. This, of course, has major implications for the debate over university finance.

There are also other data sources which can provide valuable insights into the state of Scotland's university sector.

For example, information from the Scottish Funding Council shows that funded places for Scots at university are at a near-record high, and confirms that the number of funded undergraduate places for Scottish students has continued to increase, with a rise of 9.6 percent between 2019/20 and 2024/25.

Information from UCAS shows that these changes mean a seven percent increase in enrolments of Scotland-registered students at Scottish universities between 2023/24 and 2024/25, and a twelve percent (note: not percentage point) increase in successful applications from those from the poorest parts of Scotland.