The UK has fallen further behind the United States in a league table of the countries that educate the most serving world leaders who studied abroad.
Of the current serving presidents, prime ministers and monarchs educated at a university outside their own home country, 70 received higher education in the US compared to 58 in the UK.
The gap between the US and the UK is the largest it has been since the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) think tank first launched the annual “soft-power index” in 2017.
Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, has warned that the gap between these two countries could widen further in future years because of the former UK Government’s immigration policies affecting international students.
He told the PA news agency: “We have sowed the seeds for our own further relative decline and we have done it knowingly.”
The UK topped the think tank’s first rankings in 2017, but the US overtook Britain in the subsequent year and it has maintained the lead ever since.
Over the past year, the number of world leaders educated in the US increased from 65 to 70 – the biggest one-year increase – while the number educated in the UK remained the same.
The study of 195 countries and their senior leaders, carried out in August, shows that France is still in third place in the index despite educating fewer world leaders than last year (28 in total).
The think tank has suggested that the number of world leaders educated in other countries than their own is a useful proxy for the amount of “soft power” held by different countries
Mr Hillman said: “As a firm believer in the benefits of studying abroad, I am sorry to see the UK’s relative position slip – and for the sixth time since we began calculating the numbers seven years ago.
“What could once have been excused as a blip is now a very clear trend.
“International students bring all sorts of financial, educational and social benefits to the UK but the constant flux in policy, such as the tighter rules introduced in January 2024, has confused people about whether the UK is truly welcoming.
“So, we cannot assume that we will recover the ground we have lost relative to the US.
“I hope the new UK Government, which immediately adopted much more positive rhetoric on international students, will bear Hepi’s soft-power index in mind as they continue evaluating whether the current student migration rules and high visa costs are fit for purpose.”
A spokesperson for Universities UK (UUK) said: “Our universities are world renowned for their high quality of teaching and research and UK universities remain a top destination for some of the world’s most powerful people.
“These figures are a reminder of the important role our universities play in exporting British values around the world, vital at a time of increased global insecurity, underscoring why it is imperative that they are funded sustainably now for the future.”
A Government spokesman said: “We will create a secure future for our universities as engines of growth and opportunity so they can deliver for students, local communities and the economy.
“The UK remains a world leading provider of higher education and we take pride in our world-class universities, who reach and empower millions of students globally with high quality education.
“International students enrich our university campuses, and we want to attract those who meet the requirements to study here, but it is also essential to strike a balance with reducing overall migration levels.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here