The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Josh MacAlister)
Today I am announcing the launch of the UK’s refreshed international education strategy.
Together, the Department for Education, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are setting out a vision and road map to economic prosperity and resilience, through promoting the UK’s world-leading education system globally.
Unlike the previous strategy released in 2019, this approach removes targets on international student numbers in the UK and, while continuing to welcome international students, shifts the focus towards growing education exports overseas by backing UK providers to expand internationally, build partnerships abroad and deliver UK education in new markets.
By strengthening our international partnerships and leadership, we can help to bring stability and co-operation in an uncertain and changing world. War has returned to Europe, and old certainties have been shaken. The world’s population will exceed 8.5 billion people by 2030, and urgent challenges such as climate change are reshaping the skills that people need to thrive. Education equips people to succeed, societies to prosper, and nations to build the participation needed for global stability and growth. It has never been needed more than it is today.
The new international education strategy sets out three ambitions to harness the world-leading quality of UK education:
To increase the UK’s international standing through education and make the UK the global partner of choice at every stage of learning;
To sustainably recruit high-quality international higher education students from a diverse range of countries; and
To collectively grow education exports to £40 billion per year by 2030.
These ambitions leverage the strengths of the UK’s education system and the trust with which UK education institutions are viewed by global partners.
I am grateful to representatives of the UK education sector for their help during the development of this strategy. They are creating a promotional brochure to set out the UK’s offer to the world. We are also grateful to our international education champion, Sir Steve Smith. We will be convening a new education sector action group, chaired by Ministers, with representatives of the sector who will help us steer delivery and maximise the impact of the strategy.
The international education strategy will be available online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-international-education-strategy-2026
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