New data shows a 31% average decline in international postgraduate enrolments. Sector experts say poor digital engagement is making a difficult market significantly worse.

International students generate £12.1 billion a year in fee income for UK universities, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. It now accounts for 23% of the entire sector’s income. For UCL, Imperial and the LSE, more than 75% of their fee income comes from international students.

Which makes the findings published last month by the British Universities International Liaison Association particularly alarming.

Seven in ten UK universities reported declining international postgraduate enrolments in January 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier.

The average fall across institutions surveyed was 31%. Enrolments from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were down sharply, with some universities reporting reductions of more than 75% from specific markets.

Visa policy, post-study work route changes and rising competition from other destinations are all contributing factors. But John Crick, who spent over two decades in international student recruitment before co-founding AskEd, points to a problem institutions have direct control over and largely ignore.

“Universities spend a lot of money getting students to the point of enquiry,” he says. “And then the experience just drops off. Most of the time, all a prospective student gets when they reach out, is a contact form and a vague promise that someone will be in touch.”

Research from ICEF Monitor found that nearly six in ten prospective international students disengage when communication feels slow or unclear.

The majority of student enquiries arrive outside standard working hours, when most institutions have no meaningful way to respond.

Stefan Parker, who spent fifteen years in higher education recruitment before co-founding AskEd with Crick, describes watching this happen repeatedly throughout his career. “I’d seen the same issue for years,” he says. “Students ask a question and don’t get an answer when they need it. That’s where people are lost.

“And it doesn’t even show up in the data in any obvious way, because the drop-off happens before an application is ever started.”

AskEd launched this month with a voice AI platform that handles student enquiries in real time, in over 70 languages, around the clock, it uses the same voice AI technology that Amazon unveilled last week to let online shoppers ask questions and get conversational answers in real time.

The Office for Students warned in late 2025 that 72% of English university providers could be in deficit by 2025/26. With £12.1bn in international fee income under pressure, the students who do reach out represent a pool that institutions can no longer afford to lose at the first point of contact.