Postgraduate Research UK Update as of February 2025

Our unique Pulse trackers and Share of Search data provide insights on thousands of prospective international students interested in UK PhD opportunities. As of February 2025, we’re seeing that:

• At least half of all audiences are now targeting Autumn 2025 entry. Around a third of Internationals continue to seek Spring 2025 starts.
  
  
• We continue to see particularly strong growth in Share of Search for UK PhD study from South Asian and East Asian audiences, with Bangladesh again seeing the largest growth. Australia, however, was the third fastest growing audience during January.
  
  
• Discipline interest is relatively volatile compared to recent months. We continue to see significant growth for Engineering and Computer Science, while other popular research areas such as Biological Sciences, Medicine, Chemistry and Business see slight falls.
  
  
• Our Spotlight this month investigates the correlation between our Share of Search data and recruitment trends. We clearly see that as international interest in UK PG rises, Sponsored Study Visa Applications rise too - from a year-on-year deficit which peaked in July ‘24, to year-on-year growth in December ‘24 and January ’25. For other examples of what might be coming next for study popular destinations, head over to our latest insights blog post - Predicting the Unpredictable.