Calendar year 2022

UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity

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Introduction

Annual estimates of UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education (TNE) activity for 2022. TNE activity includes education programmes that take place outside the UK, either through partner institutions, or directly through distance learning or international campuses.

Methodological changes

The Department for Education (DfE) is committed to improving the accuracy and robustness of these statistics as data quality and availability improves. In 2022, LSE Consulting were commissioned on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to review the department's existing methodology and bring forward recommendations where it could be improved. These recommendations were set out in LSE Consulting's report published in March 2023. (opens in a new tab)

The DfE has considered carefully the recommendations set out in the report and for this year’s release is implementing several of its recommendations. Accordingly, the DfE are publishing two sets of estimates of UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activities for 2022, based on the existing and new methodological approaches. 

Publishing data for both methods ensures transparency in the production and presentation of official statistics in development by setting out how the methodological changes we are implementing impact our estimates. It also meets our action laid out in the International Education Strategy (opens in a new tab) to provide a clearer picture of exports activity by improving the accuracy and coverage of our published data (action 9).

Comparison of the new and existing methodology

For a detailed comparison of the export data based on the two methodologies, see section 1. Also see table 3 in section 1 for a detailed breakdown of the new methodology figures for 2021 and 2022. For further information on the differences between the existing and new methodology, please consult the technical guidance.

New methodology

The export data based on the new methodology forms the headline figures for 2022 (as shown in the blue boxes below). See section 2 for the total figures.

Existing methodology

The export data based on the existing methodology is noted below the headline figures. See sections 3 to 5 for a detailed breakdown of exports by revenue stream for the existing methodology. 

We continue to welcome ideas and suggestions on other available sources of data and information that could be used to inform and improve our estimates of the value of exports in existing and new areas of education related activity.

The Department is proposing to fully move to the new methodology for the next publication. We invite users to provide feedback on these changes, please send this to he.statistics@education.gov.uk by 1st December 2025.

Related information

Releases in this series

View releases (3) for UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity

Methodologies

Headline facts and figures - 2022

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1. Comparative key statistics for 2021 and 2022 (new versus current methodology)

Table 1 compares total education related exports and TNE activity , by revenue stream, between the existing and new methodology in 2021. 

The total revenue for education related exports and TNE activity for 2021 using the new method shows a £2.51 billion or 9.3% positive increase in total revenue, compared with the existing method.  The majority of this increase can be attributed to the addition of academic journal exports under the education related publishing category, contributing an extra £1.94 billion in 2021. 

Table 2 compares total education related exports and TNE activity, by revenue stream, between  the existing and new methodologies in 2022. 

The total revenue for education related exports and TNE activity for 2022 using the new method shows a £2.71 billion or 9.2% positive increase in total revenue, compared with the existing method. Similar to 2021, the majority of this increase can be attributed to the addition of academic journal exports in the education related publishing category, contributing an extra £1.99 billion of exports in 2022. 

Table 3 below shows the full breakdown by revenue stream of UK education related exports and TNE activity using the new methodology for 2021 and 2022.

Between 2021 and 2022, education related exports grew by 7.7%, while transnational education (TNE) activity grew by an exceptionally high rate of 30.3%.

Higher education

Between 2021 and 2022, higher education exports grew by £1.41 billion (6.3%) from £22.29 billion to £23.70 billion. Out of the 2022 total, £18.64 billion or 78.7% can be attributed to non-EU tuition fees and living expenditure.

Further education

Between 2021 and 2022, FE exports increased by £0.05 billion (37.6%) from £0.14 billion to £0.19 billion. 

Schools

Between 2021 and 2022, schools exports grew by £0.06 billion (6.0%) from £0.92 billion to £0.98 billion. 

English language training

Between 2021 and 2022 ELT revenues grew by £0.37 billion (188.6%) from £0.19 billion to £0.56 billion. Though in relative terms growth has been strong, it is worth noting that growth has started from a relatively low figure. 

Education related products and services

Between 2021 and 2022 exports for education related products and services increased by £0.22 billion (6.1%) from £3.67 billion to £3.89 billion. Education related publishing is the largest sub-category of this revenue stream and totalled £2.98 billion in 2022. 

Transnational education activity

Between 2021 and 2022, TNE revenues increased by £0.69 billion (30.3%) from £2.28 billion to £2.97 billion. £0.56 billion (81.0%) of this growth can be attributed to growth in schools and early years TNE activities. The English Language Training TNE category has been removed for the new methodology.

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2. UK revenue from education related exports and TNE activity and share by value of revenue stream (new methodology)

Figure and table 4 below show total UK revenue from education related exports and TNE activity from 2010 to 2022, by revenue stream, with the new methodology applied for 2021 and 2022. 

Total UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education (TNE) activity was £32.29 billion in 2022, up from £29.49 billion in 2021. This represents an annual total growth rate of 9.5%. 

In 2022, Higher Education (excl. HE TNE) is the largest revenue stream with £23.70 billion of education exports. After Higher Education, the largest revenue streams in descending order are Education products and services (£3.89 billion), TNE activity (£2.97 billion), Schools (£0.98 billion), English Language Training (£0.56 billion) and Further Education (£0.19 billion).

Figure and table 5 below show the share by revenue stream of total education related exports and TNE activity from 2010 to 2022, applying the new methodology for 2021 and 2022. 

In 2022, Higher Education (excl. HE TNE) is the largest revenue stream accounting for 73.4% of all education exports. After Higher Education, the largest revenue streams by share of total education exports in descending order are Education products and services (12.1%), TNE activity (9.2%), Schools (3.0%) and English Language Training (1.7%) and Further Education (0.6%). 

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3. UK revenue from education related exports and TNE activity (existing methodology)

Figure and table 6 show total UK education related exports and TNE activity from 2010 to 2022.

Total UK education related exports and TNE activity was estimated to be £29.58 billion in 2022, an increase of £13.66 billion in nominal terms since 2010. Over the same period, in nominal terms, education related exports have increased by £12.01 billion while TNE activity has increased by £1.65 billion.

Table 7 shows the annual growth rate since 2010 of the UK's total education related exports and TNE activity. 

Total UK education exports and TNE activity grew by 9.7% between 2021 and 2022, compared to 2.6% growth rate from 2020 to 2021. Both education related exports and TNE activity experienced strong growth from 2021 to 2022, with the former growing by 9.1% and the latter by 15.9%. 

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4. Share of UK education related exports and TNE activity by value of revenue stream (existing methodology)

Figures and tables 8 and 9 show the revenue breakdown of the UK's education related exports and TNE activity from 2010 to 2022. 

Higher Education (excl. TNE) is the largest revenue stream with £23.07 billion of education related exports, accounting for 78.0% of all education related  exports for 2022. In comparison, Further Education remains the smallest revenue stream with a value of £0.34 billion or 1.1% of total exports. 

After Higher Education, the largest revenue streams in 2022 in descending order are TNE activity (£2.72 billion or 9.2%), Education products and services (£1.62 billion or 5.5% ), Schools (£0.98 billion or 3.3%) and English Language Training (£0.85 billion or 2.9%).

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5. UK education related exports and TNE activity by revenue stream (existing methodology)

Table 10 breaks down the revenues associated with education related exports of higher education from 2010 to 2022. 

Out of the total £23.07 billion export revenues generated by higher education, £18.64 billion or 80.8% can be attributed to non-EU tuition fees and living expenditure.

Figure and table 11 show the total UK revenue from education related exports for Further Education from 2010 to 2022. 

Total FE export revenues peaked at £1.02 billion in 2011, after which exports have declined or only seen modest annual growth until reaching a low of £0.17 billion in 2020. Since then however, FE exports have recovered two years in a row and in 2022 totalled £0.34 billion.

Figure and table 12 shows the total UK revenue from education related exports for Schools from 2010 to 2022. 

Total schools export revenues steadily increased from £0.63 billion in 2010 to a peak of £1.05 billion in 2019. After then falling back to £0.92 billion in 2021, revenues have started to recover and reported a figure of £0.98 billion for 2022.

Figure and table 13 show the total UK revenue from education related exports for English Language Training from 2010 to 2022.

Total revenues from education related exports for ELT had seen a declining trend from 2010, dropping to £1.55 billion by 2016. Revenues then started increasing before falling sharply to £0.49 billion in 2020. 2022 was a year of positive growth and ELT revenues reached £0.85 billion, though this is still far below historical averages. 

Figure and table 14 show the total UK revenues from education related exports for Education products and services.

Total exports for education related products and services steadily increased to £2.22 billion in 2019, after which the sector experienced two years of negative growth. 2022 was a year of positive growth and exports totalled £1.62 billion. 

Figure and table 15 show the total UK revenue for TNE activity, by revenue stream from 2010 to 2022.

Transnational education (TNE) revenues experienced strong growth between 2021 and 2022, increasing by 15.9% from £2.35 billion to £2.72 billion. 

Since 2010, ELT and Further Education TNE have seen only modest growth/stagnation. Schools and Higher Education TNE meanwhile have seen the largest growth in absolute terms, both having grown from a total of £0.96 billion in 2010 to £2.52 billion in 2022. In relative terms, Early Years TNE has been the fastest growing category and has increased by a factor of over ten since 2015, though overall exports still remain low at £0.06 billion. 

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Help and support

Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

Official statistics in development

These statistics are undergoing a development. They have been developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics and published to involve users and stakeholders at an early stage in assessing their suitability and quality.

They have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity statistics and data:

Higher Education Analysis

Email: he.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Matt Poullin
Telephone: 07880107283

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