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Students in higher education at Scottish institutions 2008-09

17/03/2010

Statistics on students in Higher Education at Scottish Institutions in the academic year 2008-09, were published today by Scotland's Chief Statistician in 'Students in Higher Education at Scottish Institutions 2008-09'.

Key findings include:

• Student numbers in Higher Education (HE) in Scotland increased by 2.6 per cent (6,990) in 2008-09 to 279,615
• Comparisons with the rest of the UK can only be made for those doing HE at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Student numbers in HEIs in Scotland increased by 2.8 per cent (6,405) in 2008-09 to 231,260. This compares to a rise of 4.3 per cent in England and 3.9 per cent for the UK as a whole (including Scotland)
• 75.8 per cent of those doing HE in Scotland were Scottish domiciled
• Scotland remained a significant net importer of students, importing more than twice as many students from elsewhere in the UK (just over 28,000) than those that leave Scotland for other UK destinations (12,600)
• Entrant numbers increased by 4.8 per cent (6,635) in 2008-09 to 144,130
• Again, comparisons with the rest of the UK can only be made for those entering HE at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Entrant numbers to HEIs in Scotland increased by 5.9 per cent (5,860) in 2008-09 to 105,975. This compares to a rise of 7.6 per cent in England and seven per cent for the UK as a whole (including Scotland)
• The proportion of entrants from the most deprived areas of Scotland was 14.9 per cent, a slight improvement on 2007-08 (14.8 per cent). Those from the 20 per cent most deprived areas (now with 19.0 per cent of the working-age population) are now under-represented by 4.1 per cent. This is a slight improvement from 4.2 per cent the previous year
• The growth in students domiciled outwith the UK was greater than for those domiciled within the UK. The number of EU (excluding the UK) domiciled students doing HE in Scotland increased by 1,180 (or 9.3 per cent) from 12,670 in 2007-08 to 13,850 in 2008-09. The number of non-European domiciled students increased by 2,570 (or 12.1 per cent) from 21,250 to 23,820. China is the largest foreign contributor to HE student numbers in Scotland at 5,130

This release contains updates of the figures in the Students in Higher Education in Scotland, 2007-08 publication, published on September 30, 2009. The publication and this release contain information on HE provision in higher education institutions (HEIs) as well at Scotland's colleges.

These statistics are collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) from Further Education Colleges (Colleges).

This publication contains information on students from both Colleges and HEIs who are attending Higher Education courses in Scotland. Higher Education courses are defined as those at HND/HNC level and above.