The determinants of United Kingdom student visa demand from developing countries

This paper analyzes the demand for UK educational services by international students through investigating the demand for student visas to the UK from 89 developing countries covering the period 2001 to 2008. The substantive findings of this research are that bilateral exchange rates matter more than per capita income in the source country in driving the volume of applications. An analysis of the country-specific fixed effects suggests a higher demand for visa applications from Muslim countries, from countries sharing a common language with the UK, and from countries geographically proximate to the UK. Political stability within developing countries and their formal human capital levels are also found to be important factors determining the volume of visas issued.