Postgraduate Research UK Update as of May 2025

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

• Brazil continues to be the fastest growing audience for UK PhD study (when measured as the UK’s Share of Search compared to other study destinations). Growth is widespread, however, with audiences from North America, Europe, Africa and various regions of Asia comprising the top 10.
  
  
• Non-EU interest remains stable, hovering around the levels we saw at this point last year. By contrast, we have seen EU interest fluctuate recently, and this continues with a slight fall after last month’s rise.
  
  
• Autumn 2025 remains the most popular entry point for all audiences, particularly with UK Returners. However, we also see early signs of UK Continuers and Internationals starting to shift their focus to 2026 entry.
  
  
• Our Spotlight this month explores the potential impact of the proposed cut to the Graduate Route on interest in UK study. Since the publication of the Whitepaper, over half of our Pulse respondents say that cutting the Grad Route to 18 months would have some bearing on their interest in UK study. However, the largest segment (42%) say it won’t impact them at all. We have further explored the impact of the Immigration Whitepaper on UK study on the blog.