A big drop in interest for Poles studying in the UK
13:21
Due to Brexit, and to some extent the coronavirus pandemic, the number of applications to British universities by candidates from EU countries has dropped by 43 percent. In the case of Poles, the drop is even higher at 73 percent.
By June 30, the deadline for university applications for the 2021-22 academic year, candidates from EU countries had submitted 28.4 thousand applications, compared with 49.6 thousand a year earlier, according to figures released Thursday by UCAS, the organization that handles the recruitment process for British universities. This is the lowest number since 2006, when 28.1 applications were received from EU candidates.
The number of applications this year has fallen for candidates from all EU countries except Ireland, but the decline is not uniform - it is clearly greater for Central and Eastern European countries, indicating that the main reason is economic, namely the significantly higher tuition fees that apply to EU students starting in the new academic year.
Candidates from Poland submitted 1.2 thousand applications by June 30, which is a decrease of 73 percent compared to the record number of 4.6 thousand the year before. This is the lowest number of applications from Poland since at least the 2012-13 academic year when UCAS statistics by country began to be published. In percentage terms, it is also the second-largest year-on-year decrease of all EU countries - only applications from Slovakia decreased more (by 74 percent).
Students from EU countries who start studying at UK universities after the end of the post-Brexit transition period, effectively from the new academic year, will no longer be treated in the same way as British students, but are subject to the same rules as those from all third countries.
