Online statistics are published in various formats throughout the year. Start by choosing the subject you're interested in:
On this page: Non-UK students, Qualifications obtained, Widening participation, Non-continuation, More HESA services, Publications, Unistats, External sources, FAQ
General student numbers
Data on the total number of enroled students. For new enrolments see tables of 'First year' students.
For students who finished a qualification during the year, see the Qualifications obtained section below.
Sections with a grey background relate to 2012/13 and will be updated when new data is published.
Statistical First Release 210
Overview of student data 2009/10 to 2013/14. Tables below cover the whole UK. Breakdowns for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found in further tables.
Table 1 All students by level, mode, domicile and sex
Table 2 First year students by level, mode domicile and sex
Table 3 Students by HE provider, level, mode and domicile
Table 4 Students by subject area, level, mode and sex
Table 4a First year students by subject area, level, mode and sex
Table 6a Full-time students by subject, level, sex, age, disability and ethnicity
Table 6b Part-time students by subject, level, sex, age, disability and ethnicity
Table 7 UK domicile students by domicile and location of HEP
Table 7a UK domicile first years students by domicile and location of HEP
All tables in one Excel workbook
Older Statistical First Releases
Free online data tables
Student numbers for 1996/97 to 2013/14 including:
2013/14 students by HE provider
2013/14 students by Subject
2013/14 first year students by Ethnicity
2013/14 first year students by Disability
More free online data tables
Student publication
Press release 211 - degree subject trends
Sector level tables and charts
Student population
Sex
Domicile
Subject of study
Age of students
Ethnicity
Qualifications obtained
Flows between administrations
Offshore provision
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| Data from Table 2 of Statistical First Release 210 and earlier years |
| Students by level of study 2000/01 to 2013/14 | |||
| Year | Undergraduate | Postgraduate | Total |
| 2013/14 | 1759915 | 539440 | 2299355 |
| 2012/13 | 1803840 | 536440 | 2340275 |
| 2011/12 | 1928140 | 568505 | 2496645 |
| 2010/11 | 1912580 | 588720 | 2501295 |
| 2009/10 | 1914710 | 578705 | 2493415 |
| 2008/09 | 1859240 | 536810 | 2396050 |
| 2007/08 | 1804970 | 501135 | 2306105 |
| 2006/07 | 1801955 | 502745 | 2304700 |
| 2005/06 | 1788600 | 492640 | 2281235 |
| 2004/05 | 1753930 | 482335 | 2236265 |
| 2003/04 | 1722685 | 477495 | 2200175 |
| 2002/03 | 1676920 | 454190 | 2131110 |
| 2001/02 | 1615130 | 427455 | 2042580 |
| 2000/01 | 1541225 | 406905 | 1948135 |
| Students in 2013/14 by mode * , level * and gender | |||
| Undergraduate | Postgraduate | Total | |
| Full-time Female | 762065 | 162470 | 924530 |
| Full-time Male | 629410 | 141925 | 771340 |
| Full-time Total | 1391585 | 304445 | 1696030 |
| Part-time Female | 225830 | 138730 | 364560 |
| Part-time Male | 142480 | 96220 | 238695 |
| Part-time Total | 368335 | 234995 | 603325 |
| Total Female | 987895 | 301195 | 1289090 |
| Total Male | 771890 | 238145 | 1010035 |
| Total | 1759915 | 539440 | 2299355 |
Non-UK domicile students
Data on students from overseas studying in the UK at HE providers.
Data from the HESA Student Record
Statistical First Release 210
Table 8 Top EU countries of domicile.
Table 8a Top EU countries of domicile - first year students.
Table 9 Top non-EU countries of domicile.
Table 9a Top non-EU countries of domicile - first year students.
All tables in one Excel workbook
Student publication
Table B - HE students by mode, sex, region of domicile
Table C - PG students by mode, sex, region of domicile
Table D - UG students by mode, sex, region of domicile
Table 1 - UK/EU/non-EU students by HE provider
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| 5 years' data in Statistical First Release 210 |
| Region of domicile of non-UK domicile students | ||
| Region of domicile * | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| Other European Union | 125290 | 125300 |
| Other Europe | 18610 | 19525 |
| Africa | 34160 | 35095 |
| Asia | 186545 | 192540 |
| Australasia | 2505 | 2580 |
| Middle East | 26380 | 27520 |
| North America | 26920 | 27340 |
| South America | 4345 | 5310 |
| Non-European Union unknown | 505 | 285 |
| Total non-UK domicile | 425265 | 435495 |
Students studying wholly overseas
Transnational students studying wholly overseas for a UK qualification.
Data from the HESA Aggregate Offshore Record
Statistical First Release 210
Table 14 - location, type and level.
Student publication
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| Click for larger images |
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Qualifications obtained
Data on degrees and other HE qualifications awarded each year.
Statistical First Release 210
Overview of qualifications data 2009/10 to 2013/14. Tables below cover the whole UK. Breakdowns for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found in further tables.
Table 11 - Qualifications obtained by level, mode, domicile and sex
Table 12 - Class of first degree by sex and mode of study.
Table 13 - Qualifications obtained by level, sex and subject
Free online data tables
2013/14 Qualifications obtained
2013/14 Qualifications by subject
More free online data tables 1996/97 to 2013/14
Student publication
Intro tables & charts - Qualifications.
Table K - mode, domicile, level
Table L - first degrees by mode, domicile, sex class
Table M - % 1st and 2i
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| Data from Table 12 of Statistical First Release 210 and earlier years |
| Qualifications obtained by level 2000/01 to 2013/14 | |||
| Year | Undergraduate | Postgraduate | Total |
| 2013/14 | 519865 | 257935 | 777800 |
| 2012/13 | 525885 | 262015 | 787900 |
| 2011/12 | 523115 | 264090 | 787205 |
| 2010/11 | 510385 | 252155 | 762540 |
| 2009/10 | 490610 | 226330 | 716940 |
| 2008/09 | 469855 | 204560 | 674415 |
| 2007/08 | 474450 | 202005 | 676460 |
| 2006/07 | 448830 | 202225 | 651060 |
| 2005/06 | 442565 | 198280 | 640850 |
| 2004/05 | 441220 | 191820 | 633045 |
| 2003/04 | 413560 | 182085 | 595640 |
| 2002/03 | 393440 | 164350 | 557790 |
| 2001/02 | 366235 | 155265 | 521500 |
| 2000/01 | 357560 | 146850 | 504410 |
UK Performance Indicators
Comparative data on the performance of HE providers in widening participation and student retention. UKPIs are specified by the HE funding bodies.
Press release 203 - headline stats for 2012/13
UKPIs Summary - 15 year time series
UK Performance Indicators homepage
Widening participation
Widening participation of under-represented groups
Table T1a - % young entrants 2012/13 from state schools, lower socio-economic classifications (SEC) and low participation neighbourhoods by HE provider
Table SP1 - WP percentages by region of domicile
Table SP4 - % young state schools entrants by subject
Table SP5 - % young low SEC entrants by subject
Table SP6 - % young low participation neighbourhood entrants by subject
Non-continuation rates
Non-continuation rates (including projected outcomes)
Table T3a - % 2011/12 entrants not continuing into second year by HE provider
Table T5 - Projected outcomes by HE provider
Table SN1 - % non-continuation of young entrants by subject
Table SN2 - % non-continuation of mature entrants by subject
Table SN3 - % non-continuation of all entrants by subject
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More HESA services
Other ways to get HESA information.
Get a customised data extract
If the stats on the website couldn't answer your question, why not ask the experts directly?
The Bespoke Data Service can provide the exact statistics you require. Give them a call on +44 (0) 1242 211133 - or go straight to the data request form
Press and media enquiries
See the Press Office section for press releases and contact details
Follow HESA on Twitter: @ukhesa
Browse the HESA Blog: www.hesa.ac.uk/blog
Mobile app
iPhone app - UK HE Stats - free from the app store. Contains four years' data for all HE providers.
New Android and iPhone apps coming soon.
Subject Benchmarking Report
Subject-specific market intelligence with analysis of performance against chosen competitors. Data and graphical analysis cover the student life cycle from enrolment to graduate destinations.
For more information, and to view a sample Subject Benchmarking Report go to www.hesa.ac.uk/subjectreport
Publications
HESA publications are downloadable collections of the most useful data in Excel tables.
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Students in Higher Education 2013/14 - comprehensive data on students and qualifications obtained. See the full contents - includes links to 5 free downloadable Excel tables. Read the introduction online - includes 16 free Excel tables to download and 11 charts summarising all aspects of the HESA Student Record and the HESA Aggregate Offshore Record. |
Students
in Higher Education |
To view all HESA publications and special offers see the Publications home page or the 2015 product catalogue.
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Higher Education Statistics for the UK 2012/13 - summary of HE data from HESA, UCAS, SLC, OECD, Labour Force Survey and more. Read the introduction online - includes 11 free Excel tables to download and 8 charts summarising all aspects of higher education, including five year trends.
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Higher Education
Statistics for the UK  |
Older publications for 1994/95 to 2008/09 can be downloaded for free from the Publications Archive.
Unistats
Official data for all undergraduate courses providing key information for prospective students.
Unistats website - the official source for information on HE courses
Unistats dataset - raw data underlying the Unistats website
available for developers to download in XML and CSV format
Unistats FAQ - on the HEFCE website
Linked data
Linked NPD-ILR-HESA data
The Department for Education (DfE) receives HESA data and links it to data from the Individual Learner Record (ILR, which covers Further Education Colleges) and to the National Pupil Database (NPD, which covers schools). Linked data is available for research purposes from DfE.
See www.hesa.ac.uk/linkeddata for more information.
To request a linked data extract please see the National Pupil Database pages at www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-pupil-database.
External sources
Related statistics are published by various organisations. These links are to external websites for which HESA is not responsible.
BIS - Participation Rates in Higher Education
BIS - Summary of all HE Official Statistics
BIS - The HE student timeline
HEFCE - National Student Survey (NSS) results
HEFCE - Data and statistics
HEFCE - Publications and reports
Welsh Assembly Government - Education statistics for Wales
HEFCW - HE statistics for Wales
Scottish Government - Lifelong Learning Statistics
SFC - HE statistics for Scotland
DEL - HE statistics for Northern Ireland
UCAS - Applications and acceptances statistics
Skills Funding Agency - Further Education statistics
House of Commons Library - Education: Historical Statistics 1920-2004
Eurostat - Education statistics for Europe
OECD - International HE statistics
Frequently asked student statistics questions
Got a question? If the answer's not online contact one of our Bespoke Data Service experts by email: information@hesa.ac.uk
Q. How many students study at privately funded HE providers not included in the HESA data?
A. A BIS survey in 2012 counted a further 94,707 students at privately funded HE providers in the UK.
Click here for the full results of the BIS survey.
Q. How many students were there in [year]? How have student numbers changed over time?
A. HESA holds data going back to the 1994/95 academic year. However we have refined the way we count students several times since then. The only way to compare our 94/95 data to our recent data is to look at a snapshot population. The table below shows the number of students enroled on the 1st of December in each year.
For a longer view, the last table of this House of Commons Library note shows the number of degrees awarded at ten year intervals back to 1920: Education: Historical Statistics 1920-2004
| Students (1st December snapshot) by level of study 1994 to 2013 | |||
| Year | Undergraduate | Postgraduate | Total |
| 2013 | 1716645 | 483685 | 2200330 |
| 2012 | 1761865 | 482850 | 2244715 |
| 2011 | 1856455 | 509840 | 2366295 |
| 2010 | 1831665 | 516040 | 2347705 |
| 2009 | 1825045 | 504115 | 2329165 |
| 2008 | 1777360 | 471360 | 2248720 |
| 2007 | 1744765 | 445660 | 2190425 |
| 2006 | 1680750 | 445105 | 2125855 |
| 2005 | 1713080 | 443175 | 2156255 |
| 2004 | 1700450 | 438920 | 2139370 |
| 2003 | 1656420 | 432415 | 2088835 |
| 2002 | 1587240 | 413180 | 2000420 |
| 2001 | 1515925 | 391005 | 1906930 |
| 2000 | 1462165 | 379700 | 1841865 |
| 1999 | 1426655 | 368005 | 1794660 |
| 1998 | 1420770 | 362885 | 1783655 |
| 1997 | 1392720 | 345850 | 1738570 |
| 1996 | 1372885 | 325630 | 1698515 |
| 1995 | 1329925 | 324790 | 1654715 |
| 1994 | 1211260 | 301790 | 1513055 |
Q. What subjects are the most popular?
| All students by subject area of study | ||
| Subject Area * | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| Medicine & dentistry | 66745 | 67360 |
| Subjects allied to medicine | 279940 | 273235 |
| Biological sciences | 201520 | 207520 |
| Veterinary science | 5760 | 5935 |
| Agriculture & related subjects | 19020 | 18360 |
| Physical sciences | 93050 | 93270 |
| Mathematical sciences | 42235 | 42225 |
| Computer science | 89500 | 91565 |
| Engineering & technology | 158115 | 159010 |
| Architecture, building & planning | 52695 | 49160 |
| Total Science | 1008585 | 1007640 |
| Social studies | 213360 | 210580 |
| Law | 89190 | 89225 |
| Business & administrative studies | 337245 | 336600 |
| Mass communications & documentation | 50425 | 49525 |
| Languages | 124280 | 117660 |
| Historical & philosophical studies | 92740 | 89615 |
| Creative arts & design | 172860 | 168860 |
| Education | 179910 | 173015 |
| Combined | 71680 | 56635 |
| All Subjects | 2340275 | 2299355 |
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| Chart from press release 211 |
| More subject info in SFR210, Publication intro and free online data tables |
Q. How many students are there in my region?
| All students by region of HE provider | ||
| Region * | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| England | 1944995 | 1902370 |
| North East | 100725 | 101250 |
| North West | 232760 | 226595 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 195545 | 192835 |
| East Midlands | 160810 | 157735 |
| West Midlands | 190665 | 188950 |
| East of England | 129805 | 126495 |
| London | 372880 | 366605 |
| South East | 407435 | 389310 |
| South West | 154365 | 152595 |
| Wales | 128780 | 129130 |
| Scotland | 214785 | 215600 |
| Northern Ireland | 51715 | 52260 |
| UK Total | 2340275 | 2299355 |
| Students by HE provider in free online data tables | ||
Q. What proportion of young people go into Higher Education?
A. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) publish the initial participation rate for 17-30 year olds. The latest figures can be found here: Participation Rates in Higher Education
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) publish participation measures by local area here: POLAR – Participation of Local Areas
Q. What proportion of students drop out?
A. Non-continuation rates are published as part of the HE Performance Indicators (see PI section above).
6.7% of full-time first degree entrants in 2011/12 did not continue into their second year.
10.7% of full time first degree entrants in 2011/12 are projected to leave higher education without gaining a qualification.
Q. How many students live at home with their parents? How many live in student halls?
A. Approximately 1 in 5 full-time students lives at home during term-time, and about the same proportion live in institution maintained property.
Click here for lots more detail on accommodation
| Term-time accommodation of full-time and sandwich students | ||
| Term-time accommodation * | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| Institution maintained property | 309765 | 325090 |
| Private-sector halls | 102255 | 108155 |
| Parental/guardian home | 325770 | 322045 |
| Own residence | 258075 | 255570 |
| Other rented accommodation | 503675 | 516220 |
| Other | 77280 | 59690 |
| Not in attendance at the institution | 20795 | 24025 |
| Not known | 84535 | 85230 |
| Total full-time and sandwich | 1682145 | 1696030 |
Q. How many students study by distance learning?
| Distance Learning students - UK based/funded † | ||
| Level, HE provider | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| Undergraduate | 177400 | 158140 |
| Open University | 156750 | 138530 |
| Other | 20650 | 19610 |
| Postgraduate | 49020 | 51870 |
| Open University | 10770 | 11725 |
| Other | 38250 | 40140 |
| Total | 226420 | 210005 |
| † Based on HESA Student Record - see Definitions | ||
| Distance Learning students - Wholly overseas ‡ | ||
| Level, Location | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| Undergraduate | 62535 | 59310 |
| EU | 12130 | 10570 |
| Non-EU | 50405 | 48740 |
| Postgraduate | 61100 | 60390 |
| EU | 13130 | 12585 |
| Non-EU | 47970 | 47810 |
| Total | 123635 | 119700 |
| ‡ Based on Aggregate Offshore Record - see Definitions | ||
| More offshore provision stats in SFR Table 8 | ||
Q. How many mature students are there?
| Students in 2013/14 by level and age group | |||
| Age group | Undergraduate | Postgraduate | Total |
| 20 and under | 878100 | 2480 | 880580 |
| 21-24 | 448535 | 173660 | 622200 |
| 25-29 | 133505 | 132480 | 265985 |
| 30-59 | 281530 | 225405 | 506935 |
| 60 and over | 18135 | 5310 | 23445 |
| Age unknown | 110 | 100 | 215 |
| Total | 1759915 | 539440 | 2299355 |
| More on age in publication intro | |||
Q. How many students are from ethnic minorities?
| Ethnicity of UK domiciled students | ||
| Ethnicity * | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| White | 1507845 | 1459815 |
| Black | 117420 | 116655 |
| Asian | 171395 | 172215 |
| Other (including mixed) | 79575 | 81545 |
| Not known | 38780 | 33630 |
| Total UK domicile | 1915015 | 1863860 |
| More ethnicity info in Publication intro and free online data tables | ||
Q. How many students study for MBAs?
| MBA students by domicile | ||
| Domicile * | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| UK | 10530 | 9525 |
| Other EU | 1045 | 1300 |
| Non-EU | 9360 | 9960 |
| Total MBA students | 20930 | 20785 |
