Migrants likelier to have degrees than British-born at every age

Migrants are more likely to have graduated from university than citizens born in England and Wales across every single age group, census figures suggest.

And experts say that the end of free movement post-Brexit is likely to further increase the proportion of highly educated new migrants.

Earlier findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 44 per cent of adult residents born outside the UK had a higher education qualification at the time of the 2021 census, compared with 31 per cent of UK-born residents.

The new data – which are split by age and sex for the first time – show that non-European Union migrants are more likely to have qualifications at level 4 or above than citizens born in England and Wales at every single age from 21 to 90 and above.

The gap is most pronounced at the ages of 28, 29 and 30, when almost 60 per cent of adults born outside the EU have higher education qualifications, compared with around 46 per cent of those born in England and Wales.

Migrants born in the EU are also more likely to have attended university than their British counterparts at every age – with the exception of those aged 87, 88 or 89.

It is not surprising that migrants are more likely to have degrees than UK-born citizens because it reflects the fact that many came here originally to work or study, Jonathan Portes, professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London, told Times Higher Education.

“Nigerians and Indians, for example, are very likely to have degrees,” said Professor Portes.

“The introduction of the post-Brexit migration system and the end of free movement is likely to further increase the proportion of highly educated new migrants.”

The ONS data includes qualifications classed as level 4 or above, including NVQ level 4 or above, Higher National Certificates, foundation degrees, professional qualifications, undergraduate degrees, master’s degrees and doctorates.

Across all ages, 47 per cent of women from non-EU countries had such qualifications, making them 1.4 times more likely than men from England and Wales to have one.

Earlier data from the census – which was taken on 21 March 2021 – found that up to two-thirds of foreign-born residents in some parts of the UK attended higher education.

At the time, the ONS said about a third of the difference in the level of higher education qualifications between UK-born and non-UK born residents could be explained by age, but the rest was “harder to explain”.

The new statistics also show that a higher proportion of women hold higher education qualifications than men for all residents up to 54 years old.

But from that age onwards, men are more likely to have graduated from university.

Of all countries with at least 100 adults recorded in the data, the gender divide was largest for those from Mongolia – where 66 per cent of women and 47 per cent of men graduated university.

The divide was reversed for adults born in Cambodia – where 34 per cent of women had at least a level 4 qualification, but 52 per cent of men did.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com