Higher education in facts and figures 2016

25 August 2016

Facts and stats

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A snapshot of universities’ research activity, student employability, and information on international students and staff.

Highlights include:

13% of undergraduate students, 38% of postgraduate students and 28% of academic staff are from outside the UK.
16% of research and development funding received by UK universities in 2014–15 came from overseas sources – the majority (£0.8 billion) from within the EU.
In 2015, the unemployment rate of graduates was half that of non-graduates (3.1% versus 6.4%).
22% of 18-year-olds from the areas of lowest higher education participation in England have applied to university in 2016 as compared to 12% ten years ago.
UK government spending on research and development is consistently below the OECD average as a proportion of GDP.

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