The conversation in UK media and the ruling class consensus has shifted so far to the right on immigration that it would be a miracle if UK continues to see similar levels of foreign student enrolment in future.
Weirdly, despite all that, migration to the UK was a record high this time last year, and although it has reduced a bit since then it remains massively higher than before Brexit — see graph half way down the article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89pvd58nd3o
The student enrollments had already started going down last year. 2023 was the peak. From the article you linked:
> According to separate Home Office figures, 393,125 student visas were issued to foreign students in the year ending December 2024.
> That is 14% fewer than in the previous 12-month period, but still almost 50% higher (46%) than in 2019.
So a 14% decrease between 2023 and 2024. I am willing to bet this will go down further this year.
The post-brexit surge in international students was driven by UK universities leaning on foreign students to fill their financial hole. The fees for domestic students will start to go up now that foreign student enrollments are declining.
> Maybe China can become the destination for ambitious smart people.
Don't underestimate the language barrier. All those stereotypes about Chinese people mixing Rs and Ls? That works both ways, not just tongue twisters like Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den*, but even "Hello": https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=“你好”%20%2F%...
And machine translation is currently so bad, that the last few time I tried giving an example here, people who actually speak Chinese would respond with something along the lines of "I have no idea what you tried to write, that is nonsensical".
> And machine translation is currently so bad, that the last few time I tried giving an example here, people who actually speak Chinese would respond with something along the lines of "I have no idea what you tried to write, that is nonsensical".